India, June 7 -- The plan to redevelop Arthur Road jail, Mumbai's main prison, has inched forward, with the state deciding to urge the civic administration to ease a provision that would force it to surrender a sizable portion of its property.

Minister of state for home Yogesh Kadam told officials of his department and the jails department of the city police on Thursday to prepare a plan for a new ground-plus-four storey prison that would accommodate 5,000 prisoners. The present British-era jail has a capacity for 800 inmates although it houses as many as 3,500.

The challenge to building a new structure comes from a provision in the city's Development Plan (DP), which mandates that the jail give up a significant portion of its property ...