Special facilities will be provided to all Muslim inmates in jails during the holy month of Ramzan, announced Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday.
Muslim prisoners observing ‘roza’ across the state will from now on be entitled to special food both for ‘seher’ in the morning as well as for ‘Iftar’ in the evening.
According to an official spokesman, “All rozedars (those observing fast) will be entitled to a glass of ‘sherbet’ made out of one lemon, 30 gms of sugar and 50 gms of ice together with 250 grams of fruit and two biscuits for their ‘Iftar’, during the summer months.”
Similarly, for the ‘sehri, they would be given 50 gms of bread, 100 gms of curd along with 15 gms of sugar.
The arrangement will not bring upon any additional cost as all these items would be made available out of the savings from non consumption of food by ‘rozedar’ prisoners, otherwise entitled to breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, the spokesman added.
While the ruling SP claimed the announcement had no political motive, the BJP dubbed it as yet another move to woo the Muslim vote bank.