Linen from Yerawada prison to adorn Indian trains

Starting today, if you are traveling in the Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast Express, chances are that the funky, new geometric-patterned linen set you have been given has been stitched by a Yerawada Jail prisoner

Starting today, if you are traveling in the Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast Express, chances are that the funky, new geometric-patterned linen set you have been given has been stitched by a Yerawada Jail prisoner.

In the first-of-its-kind initiative undertaken by the Indian Railways, the first lot of the 1,600 bedrolls —comprising bedsheet, pillow and blanket — will be circulated in the long-distance train on a pilot project basis. Sources said that the inmates were allowed to experiment with the designs to move away from the regular drab white linens. “This is a pilot project wherein the passengers shall be provided with this linen set. We will then take feedback with the aid of tablets and see what the commuters feel about it,” said a Western Railway official. Depending on the feedback, the railway authorities will decide whether or not to extend this pilot to other long-distance trains.

Modifying the width
The Railways have also reduced the width of the linen as passengers voiced complaints that either the linen was too wide and long when spread on the berth, or too small if was double folded. “We have reduced the width of the linen and so have saved 37.7 per cent of cloth used while dropping cost by around 20 per cent,” said Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager (Mumbai), Western Railway. Thus, against the current cost of Rs 169 per bed sheet, the product from the prison industry would cost Rs 161.

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