Ranchi, March 1: Hotwar jail, with 10 exclusive rooms for VIP prisoners, is ready and would be the house of the prisoners currently lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail from Ranchi by April 1.

The new jail is equipped with several facilities including those for VIP prisoners and a modern 200-bed hospital with 16 doctors. In the hospital, eight rooms will be for the upper division prisoners and two for women.

Sources said that after once the captives are accommodated in the new jail, the VIP prisoners would not be able to shift to hospitals outside the prison on the pretext of their poor health, as most of them usually do.

Sitting MLAs, MPs and ex-ministers or those who are notified by the state government through the deputy commissioner come under the category of upper division prisoners, provided they have not been booked under any criminal offence. Generally, public representatives or politicians arrested during agitation are also given upper division prisoners status.

The upper division prisoners get slightly better food, a cot, pillow, mattress and mosquito net. But if a VIP commits a crime, he cannot get the status of an upper division prisoner. That is why most of the VIP prisoners jailed on criminal charges try to get shifted to hospitals on health grounds.

The last VIP prisoner in Birsa Munda jail was Bihar MLA Dhumal Singh, who never availed of the facility.

The VIP units, independent from the main jail, also have guesthouses and entertainment rooms.

Inspector-general of police (prisons) Sabhapati Prasad Kushwaha said the department would hold a meeting this week to decide on the date for shifting to the new premises, but the shifting will certainly be completed by April 1.

?First, we will conduct security check-up before shifting. The shifting will be done after the state police deploys the required force on the jail campus,? he said.

The jail was inaugurated on the fifth foundation day of the state on November 15, 2005, but the shifting could not be expedited since the residential quarters and the police barracks were not ready.

Shifting to the new jail would also mean the prison would require more jail wardens, for which additional appointments would have to be made. But till then, state police force will be deployed on the jail campus.

In all, Hotwar has 15 male wards, two female wards, eight upper division male wards and two upper division female wards, five general cells and 10 high security cells.