Bengal: Mutton biryani, basanti pulao among food items to be served to prisoners in Durga puja

Kolkata: Correctional home authorities in West Bengal have planned to serve mutton biryani, ‘basanti pulao’ and several other Bengali cuisines as a change on the menu for inmates during the ensuing Durga puja to ensure that they do not feel left out of the festivities, an official said on Saturday.

The changed menu for inmates – both convicts and undertrials – for lunch and dinner would be effective from Sasthi (October 9) to Dashami (October 12), covering the beginning and end of Durga puja, he said.

“We get requests from inmates for better food during every festival. We have got a new menu this year and are hopeful that this will bring smiles to their faces. I personally consider this as a very positive move to reform them,” the official said.

A decision was reached that the inmates, who work as cooks, would prepare the delicacies during the Durga puja festivities.

The delicacies to tickle the taste buds of the inmates will consist of a wide range of items – ‘Macher matha diye pui shak’ (Malabar spinach with fish head), ‘macher matha diye dal’ (dal with fish head), ‘luchi-cholar dal’ (puri and Bengali chana dal), ‘payesh’ (Bengali porridge), chicken curry, ‘alu potol chingri’ (shrimp with pointed gourd and potato), mutton biryani with ‘raita’ (mixed curd) and ‘basanti pulao’ (yellow pulao), he said.

However, to respect the religious sentiment of the inmates, non-vegetarian food will not be served to everyone and the prisoners will be asked to choose items, the official said.

“We want to bring changes in their routine, a break from their daily lives. For many Bengalis or even people of different communities living in the state for years, Durga puja and other festivals are incomplete without fish and meat items on their platter. Hence we tried to bring variety in their cuisines so that they will relish as Bengalis,” he said.

One of the city correctional homes, Presidency Jail, currently houses former state ministers Partha Chatterjee and Jyoti Priya Mallick and R G Kar Medical College and Hospital’s ex-principal Sandip Ghosh.

Chatterjee is accused of being involved in school recruitment scams and Mallick in irregularities in the public distribution system while Ghosh has been charged with tampering with evidence in the rape-murder of a woman doctor and a financial scam in the R G Kar hospital.

Altogether 26,994 men and 1,778 women are now lodged in 59 correctional homes in the state, another official said.

“For every major event, we seek to make special arrangements for the inmates,” he said.

The change in the menu during the festive season will be effected across all the correctional homes, he added.