Will be located at malls, markets and places of worship among other spots

Seven IT parks, as many malls, eight markets, 10 colleges, 19 bus stands, 19 places of worship, 40 beach locations, 56 railway stations, 70 schools and 378 slums will get safe zone clusters to prevent crimes against women.

“The funds for commissioning the facilities have been released by the Central government from the Nirbhaya Fund. The process has been very quick. The tender will be floated next week,” said a Chennai Corporation official.

“Women constitute 20% of Chennai's workforce. The locations for safe zones have been identified based on a study of hot crime zones in the city,” said an official.

The safe zones will have multi-utility smart poles with an emergency panic box, public address system, wi-fi connectivity, zero-dark luminance, and will be connected to Chennai Corporation's Command Control Centre through IoT (Internet of Things) based intelligence.

The project is estimated to cost ₹131 crore.

Hot zones identified

Hot crime zones have been identified in the vicinity of IT parks at Taramani, Siruseri, Sholinganallur, Madhya Kailash, Navalur TIDEL Park and DLF IT Park.

Colleges such as Queen Mary’s, Stella Maris, Ethiraj, Women’s Christian College, MOP Vaishnav, Loyola, Bharathy Arts College, Presidency, Qaid-E-Millath, Pachaiyappa’s, Nandanam Arts College, Sathyabama Engineering College and Kandaswamy College will get safe zones for women.

Safe zone clusters for women will be developed in 19 suburban stations from Beach to Perungalathur, 10 stations from Beach to Ennore, nine stations from Central to Tirunindravur and 18 stations from Beach to Velachery.

Bus termini in T. Nagar, Anna Nagar, Ambattur, Poonamallee, Guindy, Tambaram, Pallavaram, Perungalathur, Taramani, Adyar, Tiruvanmiyur, Besant Nagar, Vallalar Nagar (Mint), Tiruvottiyur, Washermanpet, Kannadasan Nagar and Saidapet have also been selected for the project.

Places of worship such as Kapaleeswarar Temple, Murugan Temple in Vadapalani, Parthasarathy Temple in Triplicane, Vadivudai Amman Temple in Tiruvottiyur, Kali Temple in Parrys, Kamakshi Temple in Mangadu, Amman Temple in Tiruverkadu, Anjaneyar Temple in Nanganallur, Perumal Temple in T. Nagar, Saibaba Temple in Mylapore, Santhome Church, St. Antony’s Church in Parrys, St. Thomas Mount Church, Little Mount Church in Saidapet, Annai Velankanni Church in Besant Nagar will also get such facilities.

Express Avenue, Phoenix Mall, City Centre, Forum Vijaya Mall, Ampa Skywalk and Mayajaal have also been identified for development of safe clusters for women.

“Marina beach will also get 20 safe zones for women,” said the official.