Mumbai: Home minister RR Patil on Sunday inaugurated the country’s first open prison for women on the premises of the Yerawada central prison. It has come up on an area of 17 acres.

Patil said the women inmates had some rights unlike their male counterparts but for some reason, it was not given to them since Independence.

PUNE: Former MLA Chandrakant Chhajed has written to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), saying that if the Rajiv Gandhi municipal hospital in Yerwada is not opened by the civic body immediately, he will hold a hunger strike from April 1, 2010.

Chhajed has sent a letter to municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade, demanding that the hospital at Yerwada be opened at the earliest, so that it can provide treatment to the poor at concessional rates.

BJP leader Pandurang Phundkar has demanded the cancellation of appointment of Divisional Commissioner Dilip Band as the chairman and managing director of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML).

In a letter written to chief minister Ashok Chavan, Phudkar said that issue raised by corporator Ujjwal Keskar on appoinment of Band are valid.

Home Minister P. Chidamabaram on Tuesday said that the Pune terror investigation was on the “right track” and there was no question of handing the probe to the National Investigating Agency (NIA).

“There is no decision to hand over the investigation to the NIA. The probe is on the right track and we need to be a little more patient,” Mr. Chidambaram said while presenting the Ministry’s monthly report.

Home ministry officials said the government was awaiting a probe report of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on the Pune blast. The report is expected to come shortly.

Pune: Strongly reacting to Union home minister P Chidambarm's statement denying any intelligence lapse behind the Pune blast, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj today said the failure actually was on the part of the government.
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Sushma Swaraj

"The government had intelligence reports indicating the vulnerability of the Koregaon Park area but it could not prevent the terror attack on innocent people", Swaraj, who was accompanied by BJP President Nitin Gadkari, told a press conference here.

MUMBAI: It is not alright to conclude after this evening's blast in Pune that entire Pune city was targeted, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad
Pawar has said.

"It is not alright to arrive at a conclusion that the entire Pune city has been targeted," Pawar said. The place where the blast took place is an isolated area, he added.

"I have spoken to Home Minister RR Patil, district guardian minister Ajit Pawar and district collector," Pawar said.

NEW DELHI: Opposition BJP today attacked the Maharashtra government over the Pune blast, alleging it was engaged in protecting the makers of the
film "My Name is Khan" leaving the terrorists scot free to attack.

"The whole Congress led government and police in Maharashtra were engaged in protecting the interests of the actor, director, producer and distributor of 'My Name is Khan' on the orders of Rahul Gandhi," BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

He said "this left the terrorists scot free to attack innocent people in Pune."

PUNE: Alleging the UPA government was conspiring to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray tonight said his party would oppose such a move and continue to take to the streets to fight and keep the state undivided.

"On the lines of a separate Vidarbha, Congress government at the Centre is planning to carve out a separate Mumbai state aligning the metropolis with neighbouring Thane and Raigad," he said here, adding the Sena would fight tooth and nail against the design to weaken and factionalise Maharashtra.

Pune : The echo of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Mumbai on Friday was felt in Pune too. On Friday, a clash between workers of the Congress, National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Shiv Sainik’s ensued after Congress workers blocked the Fergusson College Road and shouted slogans criticising Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray.

Pune : “Pune should have a Metro. If people are talking about the high cost of implementing it now, the cost would grow to prohibitive levels in the next 20-25 years. Cost should not be a reason for not taking up a development project,” Finance Minister Sunil Tatkare said here on Sunday.