The administration of Ghaghidih Central Jail has decided to organise Durga Puja at the jail premises, but on low-scale.

The Durga Puja organising committee of the central jail has dropped the practice of preparing `bhog', a primary attraction among prisoners lodged in the jail every year.

The committee has not made orders for the idols of Goddess Durga and her children this year as it has decided to buy them from the market a day before Puja begins.

Talking about the puja in the central jail, superintendent, Ghaghidih central jail, NK Singh said that they have already started arranging for the four-day-long grand event.

"We are going to hold the Puja in accordance with the government guidelines, so we are doing whatever necessary for hosting the Puja oon a small scale,” said Singh talking to The Telegraph Online adding that the bhog will be skipped.

He said a small pandal will be set up near the jail-gate, but there will be no lighting arrangement or cultural programme as would usually be carried out by the staff of jail administration earlier.

The superintendent said the Puja is organised outside the main building, and the bhog is prepared on jail premises

"We do not want the bhog to enter the jail for the prisoners. If it gets contaminated with the coronavirus, the disease will spread among the 17,000-plus inmates. This is the reason we have dropped the preparation of the bhog this year with a heavy heart," the superintendent pointed out.

For the Ghaghidih Central Puja committee preparation of bhog and its distribution among the prisoners and outsiders used to be the main work every year.

The prisoners would get special bhog on all four days of the Puja. The central jail Puja committee would spend as much as 80 percent of the Rs 2 lakh Puja budget of on bhog only.

This year, those prisoners who would like to celebrate Navratri on an individual basis inside the jail will be allowed to do so.

"Though we have dropped bhog from the Puja arrangement, those prisoners who want to hold the Puja by setting up kalash or performing Navratri on an individual basis inside the jail can do so without any restriction. After all, it is a matter of faith," said the superintendent.

Over 50 persons, including 32 prisoners, had been infected with the coronavirus at the Ghaghidih Central Jail earlier.

The jail administration successfully made the central jail Covid-free by providing treatment to the infected persons in the jail hospital and MGM Medical College Hospital while at the same time taking stricter measures.