Nagpur, Aug 18 (PTI) Jail capacity in Maharashtra will be increased by 6,000 to tackle the issue of overcrowding, Additional Director General of Police Amitabh Gupta said on Friday.

Addressing a press conference, Gupta said 60 jails in the state with a sanctioned capacity of 25,000 inmates were housing 42,000 inmates.

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The rise in capacity at Thane jail will be 500, while it will be 1,500 in Palghar, 500 in Ahmednagar and 3,040 in Yerwada in Pune, he said.

He said a smart card phone system to allow inmates to contact kin once a month for 10 minutes has been successfully tried out in Yerwada and is now awaiting a review by the state home department.

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)