HYDERABAD: The business process outsourcing (BPO) unit at the Cherlapally Central Prison, the only one of its kind in the country, has been shut down a little over a year after its inception as no IT company seems prepared to “risk it.” “The BPO is ready with its staff and equipment. We can get it on track within two weeks, if any company comes forward to outsource its projects,” BPO instructor E Anjaiah told Express.When the unit was setup in collaboration with Radiant Info Systems in May last year, it had promised much with three companies, TCS, the Electronic Corporation of India Ltd and the Postal Department, announcing their intention to work with it.But after that initial expression of interest, they did not come forward. Says prison superintendent KC Srinivas Rao, “We don’t know when IT companies will come forward to give work orders to the BPO. That is why the unit has been closed for the time being.” The BPO, in fact, got work orders from India Post and the Life Insurance Corporation recently but the schedules have not been fixed much to the disappointment of the trainees. The BPO was set up with the aim of bagging work related to application management and development, data entry operations, testing and quality assurance and payroll processes. The unit took six months to rig up its equipment. So far, three batches of 25 inmates each have been trained, according to Anjaiah.To qualify for training, prisoners, who have a minimum of Plus Two education, are subjected to a prelim test. If successful, they are drawn together into batches of 25 each.Anjaiah said inmates shortlisted for the first three batches were trained by experts and certified to work for the BPO. But due to security considerations, they were not given access to internet. According to Anjaiah, it was initially difficult to motivate prisoners but periodic counselling convinced many of them to learn basic computing.
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