CHENNAI: The city corporation had, in August 2021, installed smart poles in 49 locations across the city. Over a year later, it’s wi-fi and emergency call services have had few takers.The smart poles have an ‘emergency call’ function primarily meant for the safety of women and children. Pressing the alarm button will transmit the location details to the nearest police station. However, the placement of these poles, raises questions.
For instance, two of the four smart poles along the Marina are within a five minute walk to the nearest police station. The smart pole near the light house is a five minute walk away from the D5 police station and the one near Ezhilagam is around three minutes away from the D6 Anna Square police station. The one on Thiruvanmiyur beach is right next to a police booth and from the pole outside Ripon Buildings, Periamet station is a four minute walk. This leaves residents questioning why they need to use the alarm when they can approach the station nearby. Most of these are on well lit, busy stretches with around 12 of the 49 poles in T Nagar.
“I have not had any reason to use the alarm but it could be of use in many poorly lit stretches like the approach from the local train station at Washermanpet to the main road. It would have been helpful if the corporation had held discussions with residents before installing the poles,” said PS Vaishanvi of Old Washermanpet.
The civic body had also announced that public can have free access to the wi-fi for half an hour everyday. To its credit, the wi-fi services are reliable, fast and is easy to register for anyone with a smart phone. However, many residents TNIE spoke to said that they had no idea what the pole was for despite seeing it every day for the last several months.
Singham M, from West Bengal, who works at a fast food stall along the Marina, said he uses his own data plan when he has the money. “I like to listen to old songs and watch movies for which I could have used the smart pole, had I known it had free wi-fi,” he said. Thiru S, whose auto stand is right next to the smart pole near Central station thought it was a CCTV pole and nothing more. The poles have a small sign that briefly mentions its uses In Tamil and English that’s easy to miss.
A corporation staff said there were no available records of how many have used the emergency call services and the wi-fi services are in use.“The poles also have a public announcement system that was useful during Covid-19,” said a corporation official. In the first month of its installation, as per corporation records, 2,594 residents had used the services.
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