Yerawada prison to open for public soon

MUMBAI: Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh announced that the state will start jail tourism by throwing open Pune’s Yerawada prison to public, including students and researchers. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar will inaugurate the facility on Republic Day.

Subsequently, other prisons will be taken up for jail tourism, the minister added.

Spread on over 500 acres,

Yerawada jail is historic, as several freedom fighters, including Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose, have been jailed there, Deshmukh said. Terrorist Ajmal Kasab, who was captured and tried for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was hanged in the jail in November 2012.

“In the first phase, we will start jail tourism with Yerawada jail. It has historic importance. Cells where Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Motilal Nehru were lodged will be opened to visitors. Information will be given to visitors about their time in prison. Besides that, the place where the Pune Pact was singed between Gandhiji and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, will also be made open,” the minister said.

The visitors will be charged nominal fees, the minister added. School students will be charged ₹5, while college students will have to pay ₹10. For the general public, the fare will be ₹50.

Deshmukh added that the state has ensured that there is no contact between visitors and current inmates during the visits.