Chennai is soon to have safe zones for women which is a remarkable step. As per reports, all the malls in the city, seven IT parks, eight prominent markets, 10 colleges, 19 revered places, and 70 schools will come under the zone. In addition, a safe zone will also be provided at 40 beach areas, 56 railway stations, 19 bus stands and 378 slums. According to a Chennai Corporation official, the required funds for commissioning the facilities have already been granted and released by the Central government. This fund comes from the Nirbhaya Fund and it won’t tell much time for the process to be functional.
He also said that the tender will be floated next week, which means it will be very quick. Nearly INR 131 crore has been granted for the project. As per reports, the women workforce is almost 20 percent, And all the identified locations are based on research where crime against women has been high in the city. All the mentioned safe zones will be provided with multi-utility smart poles having an emergency panic box. There will also be a public address system, internet connectivity along with zero-dark luminance.
These things will be connected with Chennai Corporation’s Command Control Centre through IoT (Internet of Things) based intelligence. Prominent colleges in Chennai, including Presidency, Queen Mary’s, Ethiraj, Women’s Christian College, Qaid-E-Millath, Pachaiyappa’s and Nandanam Arts College, among others have been identified as hot crime zones, so all of these will have safe zones for women. This is indeed a commendable step and is definitely going to increase the number of women travelers to the city of Chennai.
