MUMBAI, May 10 -- The state home department has decided to shift the two central prisons of Thane and Nagpur and the district jail of Wardha out of city limits. The decision to shift the 15-acre historic Wardha Prison within the city to a 100-acre plot in Injapur village, seven kilometres away, was taken last week. Additional chief secretary (jails) Radhika Rastogi corroborated, "The jails are to be shifted. But we will move the inmates only after the government constructs the new jail premises. The method of financing the construction of the new jails is yet to be decided." A senior officer of the jail department revealed that the government was keen to shift the jails outside city limits in order to get jail land in prime areas freed up for commercial exploitation. At present, laws mandate that a minimum distance of 200 metres has to be maintained between prisons and other buildings. There are also height restrictions on the new constructions, which come in the way of real estate projects. The three jails are historic and in heritage precincts. Wardha Jail was established in 1845 by governor-general Lord Hardinge with a capacity to house 252 prisoners. It currently has twice that number. The jail also has a chapel and a hospital. Thane Central Prison is spread over 44 acres and situated in the heritage precinct of Thane Fort. Many freedom fighters were incarcerated there, and there is a tunnel from the jail to Thane Creek from where freedom fighters used to be transported to Britain. The 4,000-inmate jail will be shifted to a 50-acre plot at Amane village near the entrance of the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway. With this decision, the plans to expand the jail and construct new quarters has been cancelled, and as of now, only eight barracks are being repaired. According to home department officials, the Thane Municipal Corporation has proposed setting up a museum on the site. Nagpur Central Prison, with a capacity of 1,940 inmates, currently has 4,000 inmates. Spread over 100 acres in the city, it has 22,000 heritage trees, and will be shifted to Chicholi village, 20 kilometres away. The government will reportedly retain the green area, while the rest will be opened to "development". Several Nagpur politicians want the jail to be shifted to cash in on its real estate value. Nagpur is one of the two jails in the state (the other is Pune Jail) with operational gallows to hang convicts on death row. It was constructed in 1864 and the last person to be hanged there was Yakub Memon, an accused in the Mumbai serial bomb blasts of 1993....