Patna: Bihar Minister for jails Raghvendra Pratap Singh today (Nov 24, 2004) admitted that more than 70 per cent of the officials posted at various jails were facing charges and "I don't have a magic wand to change the face of prisons overnight".

Facing the ire of the Patna High Court over criminal and jail authorities nexus, the Minister said, "More than 70 per cent of our officials are facing charges for committing irregularities and departmental proceedings are pending against them. How can you expect comprehensive jail reforms in these circumstances? After all, I don't have a magic wand to change the face of jails overnight."

The jail authorities are in the eye of a storm with reports that jailbirds were running their nefarious activities prompting police raids at the Beur and Phulwarisharif jails yesterday (Nov 23, 2004) in connection with the kidnapping of the two National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) technocrats T Mandal and K K Singh.

"Being the custodian of the jails, I am aware of the situation and have taken a number of corrective steps after assuming additional charge of the jail department hardly three months ago," Singh, who is also Minister for Sugarcane Development, said.

The Patna High Court had yesterday asked Chief Minister Rabri Devi to shift officials who have stayed in a prison for more than three years. A proposal to this effect is likely to be cleared by the Chief Minister in a day or two, he added.