Free Wi-Fi, CCTV soon at 5 beaches in TN districts

According to officials of the State Tourism Department, setting up of the Wi-Fi and CCTV surveillance is part of promoting tourism in the coastal circuit of Tamil Nadu. “Tenders have been floated for the project and work is likely to be completed in another two or three months,” said V Palanikumar, Commissioner of Tourism and Chairman and Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC), while talking to DT Next. 

The Centre has allotted Rs 100 crore for developing tourism in the coastal circuit of Tamil Nadu and the project covers eight places in five coastal districts. The key objective of the project is to make the coastal areas more accessible and tourist-friendly by increasing security measures by coordinating with security agencies, said Palanikumar. 

“The police have already installed CCTV cameras in a few places. We will hold discussions with them and the Coastal Security Group over selecting the appropriate places for fixing the cameras so all areas are under surveillance,” Palanikumar added. Similarly, for Wi-Fi, there are already few Wi-Fi hotspots in Marina beach and Elliot’s beaches and the new Wi-Fi hotspots will be setup in the places hitherto uncovered. Like the usual Wi-Fi hotspots first 30 minutes of browsing will be for free and to continue browsing the users had to spend additional money. Along with Marina and Elliot’s beach, Mahabalipuram beach will also be covered under the project. “Wi-Fi facility would be setup in Mahabalipuram beach, but CCTV would be set up under the Iconic Tourist Sites Project, a mega pan-India project,” said Palanikumar. 

He said basic amenities would also be developed in all the coastal spots identified by the Union Tourism Department. Apart from Chennai and Mahabalipuram, Rameswaram, Manapad in Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari are other tourist destinations to be covered under the project.