Lucknow, Aug 17 (IANS): Jail inmates in Uttar Pradesh can now meet their family members after a gap of almost six months when meetings were banned due to the second wave of the pandemic.

The state prison department has allowed the meeting from Monday across the state.

The visitors are required to come with a recent negative RT-PCR test report for Covid-19. Nearly 300 visitors met inmates in various Uttar Pradesh jails on Monday.

According to a press statement issued by the prison department, over 600 people reached various jails on Monday in order to meet their relatives or family members lodged in jails.

However, only those having negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) Covid-19 report, tested within 72 hours, were allowed to meet the inmates.

The others were permitted to use the intercom to interact with their family members from behind bars.

The maximum number of visitors was reported from the Lucknow jail where close to 80 people were allowed to meet inmates followed by Mainpuri, Moradabad and Agra where 50, 40 and 28 visitors met inmates respectively.

The prison department has made arrangements for proper sanitisation of the visitors meeting area.

As per the prison department directions, only two visitors are allowed to meet the inmate at a time. The department has also fixed the visiting hours till 2 p.m. on weekdays.

One inmate will only be allowed one visit in a week. The meetings have been allowed in view of the declining Covid cases in the state.

According to officials, of the total 14 lakh inmates in the jails, nearly 92,000 inmates have been vaccinated. Of these, around 20,000 inmates have been given both the doses of the vaccines.