It is indeed a happy new year for the Thane Central Jail authorities and the inmates who managed to sell cakes worth Rs 11 lakh during the Christmas season. Inmates are trained to bake cakes in the jail's in-house bakery unit for self-consumption and for sale.
Every year prior to the Christmas season, the jail receives a large number of cake orders from several government and non-government institutions.
Functional throughout the year, it was in 2019 when the jail authorities started taking up special orders for Christmas. They take up orders before December 17 and between Dec 17-24 they start making preparations and baking cakes.
Around 17-20 inmates are involved in the baking process and all the bakery goodies are tested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before being sold for consumption. The cakes include sponge cakes, cupcakes were sent to several jails including Taloja Jail, Byculla women and men's jail, Kalyan’s Adharwadi Jail and Arthur Road Jail. They were also sent to the Thane Mental Hospital, Mantralaya and several civic hospitals across Mumbai, Thane, and Kalyan.
According to Harshad Ahirrao, Superintendent of Police, Thane Central Jail, all the inmates were paid Rs. 140 per day and usually worked for 8 hours a day (on a regular day), and worked for 14 hours during the seven days of cake-making / baking.
Through the sale of over 40,000 cupcakes and 2,000kg of sponge cakes, the jail earned Rs11 lakh this year, as compared Rs5 lakh, that was earned last year.
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