Poojapura chappathi proves a success

KOCHI: By earning a profit of over Rs 80 lakh in six months, the chappathi and chicken curry made by the inmates of the Poojapura Central Jail have proved to be a success. Riding high on the success of the initiative, the Prison Department is planning to start such ventures in other jails also.   “With the success of the venture at the Poojapura Central Jail, we are planning to start similar projects in other central jails also,” Director-General of Prisons Alexander Jacob said.  Jacob said that they will soon start selling prison idlis. The government has allotted Rs  lakh for this. “The idli production will start next month,” he said.   After deducting the expenses, we earned Rs 83 lakh as profit from the sale of chappathi ever since the project was started in November last year. We  hope to achieve a profit of Rs 3.5 crore in a year, Alexander Jacob said.  He said that more than 50,000 chappathis are sold daily. “More chappathi-making machines have been installed for speeding up the production. Around 50 inmates have been assigned to make chappathis daily. A packet of five chappathis, along with chicken curry, will be sold at `25 and a packet with vegetable curry costs Rs 20. Single chappathi is sold at Rs 2,” Jacob said.