Beur Central Jail. Telegraph picture

Patna, May 10: Brand BJ is all set to hit the shelves. Bread prepared by the inmates of Beur Central Jail is to be branded as BJ, close on the heels of those made in Tihar Jail, which is sold under the name of TJ (Tihar Jail).

Though a final decision has not yet been taken, sources told The Telegraph that a serious thought is being given to BJ or Beur Jail as the final name. At present, bread manufacture has been stalled on the jail premises for the past fortnight on account of renovation in the factory.

“Discussions regarding the brand name of the bread manufactured here is still being pondered upon at the moment. But then we are thinking of christening it BJ. It stands for Beur Jail. The letter B also stands for Bihar. It is on the lines of TJ, the bread products manufactured in Tihar Jail. A final decision in this connection will be taken very soon,” a senior official at the state home department told The Telegraph.

The factory, which started production in February this year, is baking breads as of now, but plans to make other bakery products in future. The machinery provided to the jail has a manufacturing capacity of 15,000 packets of bread weighing 400gm each in a single day. “At present, the manufacturing process has been stalled for the past 15 days as renovation work is in progress.,” Om Prakash Gupta, the superintendent of Beur Jail, told The Telegraph.

The official said they had forwarded a proposal to the department regarding the addition of bread in the breakfast of the inmates across state prisons. “At present, the inmates are given 87gm of chana or gram and 59gm of jaggery in their breakfast. We have submitted a proposal under which the inmates could be given 50gm of chana, 30gm of jaggery and the remaining 66gm would be in the form of bread. We have had the nutritional research regarding the same conducted by the Institute of Hotel Management in Hajipur. The new menu, which includes bread, has the same nutritional value as that of combined chana and jaggery. The proposal is with the inspector-general of police (prisons) and the same could be approved by this week,” the official added.

Plans have been made to supply the bread made in the jail to different prisons of the state and also hospitals like Patna Medical College and Hospital and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital.