JOIN USMaharashtra to launch Jail Tourism on January 26
In a unique initiative, the Maharashtra government is launching a Jail Tourism project from Pune’s historic Yervada prison from January 26, coinciding with the Republic Day festivities.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who is the guardian minister of Pune district, will launch the project on the day.
“This will mark the launch of the first phase of the Jail Tourism project,” state home minister Anil Deshmukh told reporters in Nagpur on Saturday. Subsequently, other prisons like Nagpur, Nashik, Thane will also be opened to the public.
“We shall levy a small fee, Rs 5 for school students, Rs 10 for college students and Rs 50 for general tourists, Deshmukh said.
The Yervada Central Jail is one of the biggest jails not only in India but also in Asia.
The jail was built in 1871 by the British, when Yervada, also written as Yerawada or Yeroada, was outside the city limits of Pune. The jail has also has a Faansi-yard for capital punishment.
Spread over 500 acres, it has a capacity to lodge nearly 5,000 prisoners.
There is also an attached Yervada Open Jail within the campus and houses life sentence prisoners, who have amicably completed five years in the central jail.
Some of the most prominent personalities had spent time there including Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sarojini Naidu, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Joachim Alva and Veer Savarkar.
The Poona Pact of 1932 was agreed in the jail between Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Gandhiji. During Emergency, among those jailed there were former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Pramila Dandawate, Balasaheb Deoras and Vasant Nargolkar. Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray too had been jailed there briefly.
Eminent Gandhian Anna Hazare, Bollywood actor Sunil Dutt, scamster Abul Karim Telgi and ex-mafia don Arun Gawli have also been jailed there.
The lone Pakistani fidayeen to be caught during the 26/11 terror attacks, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, was hanged till death in the prison complex.