Ahmedabad's unique snack shop run by prisoners of Sabarmati Central Jail

Indian Express

3 days ago

It all began with a kite festival in 1995-96, where a fair was organised at the police headquarters in Ahmedabad and jail inmates had a stall where they sold bakery products, farsan (fried snacks) and bhajiyas (fritters). The first store run by convicts of Sabarmati Central Jail was later opened close to the prison on an experimental basis. Thus was born Jail Bhajiya House.
Arvind Parmar, the Sabarmati Central Jail factory manager under whom Jail Bhajiya House falls, says, 'In 1997, the jail authorities allotted a place near RTO Circle to a jail convict who knew how to make farsan to start the selling of bhajiya on an experimental basis. The director-general of prison then was Vijay Singh Guman. It started in a small room on the property of the jail. The outlet got a good response and so, a shade with tables and chairs for customers was erected. As the shop started getting good response, we started putting 8-10 more prisoners on the job at the shop,' Parmar added.
The bhajiyas became so popular that they now do business up to Rs 1 crore, says Director-General of Prisons K L N Rao.
About the secret recipe for the bhajiyas, Parmar said, 'We have a fixed scale according to which the bhajiyas are being made. Skilled prisoners make the bhajiya, and under them other prisoners also get trained before the departure of the former. We strictly take care of the quality of the ingredients used. The officials of the food and drugs department regularly visit the shop and till date there is no quality-related complaint.'
According to Parmar, in 2009, the place where the shop stood was acquired for road widening and a new place was allocated nearby. The jail authorities built a new ground+one storey building there and started a live counter of bhajiya. At the same building, the jail authorities also opened a room where various jail products were also sold.
'That shop functioned till around six-month months back. And now it has been dismantled and a new building is being built for Jail Bhajiya House with a heritage look. Currently, the sale of bhajiya has been temporarily shifted near Sabarmati Central Jail till the renovated building is ready,' Parmar said.
Three-storey building with a heritage look
Jail Bhajiya House is being rebuilt into a three-storey building with a 'heritage look' at the same spot. The renovation is likely to be over in the next six-eight months, says Rao, adding that the shop has become a landmark in the city.
The revamped building of Jail Bhajiya House will be a three-storey structure comprising a bhajiya selling point, a display unit of products manufactured in jail, a banquet hall and restaurant serving Gandhi Thali, and a photo gallery with historic pictures. The estimated cost of the construction of the renovated building is Rs 2.4 crore.
Parmar said that for the past around 10 years, prisoners of Sabarmati Central Jail also go to Kartik Purnima Fair in Somnath to sell the bhajiya in a stall provided by Somnath Temple Trust. Similarly, Jail Bhajiya House also sell the bhajiya at the food zone during the biennial Vibrant Gujarat event organised by Gujarat government
As per the plan, the ground floor of the new building will be reserved for sale of the bhajiyas by the inmates. The second floor will house a museum, showcasing the time spent in Sabarmati Central Jail by freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Lokmanya Tilak, Kasturba Gandhi, Mahadevbhai Desai, Zaverchand Meghani. The restaurant and banquet hall, too, will have jail inmates as staffers.