“Is there some way of limiting the availability of Wi-Fi at Race Course?” This seems to be a major concern for many who live at Race Course in the city and others who come there regularly for their walk.
Earlier this year, the Coimbatore Corporation launched Wi-Fi facility at Race Course on an experimental basis and gradually extended it to other areas in the city. It has tied-up with a handful of telecom operators for the Rs. 1.5-crore project.
Residents suggest restrictions in the timing when the facility is available. The residents of Race Course have appealed to the Corporation seeking removal of Wi-Fi facility in the locality.
An online petition addressed to the Coimbatore Corporation said that Race Course, with its trees and walkways for health enthusiasts, was not what it used to be.
Men with gadgets now occupy every vacant spot to use the free Wi-Fi facility, sometimes till late into the night.
A resident of the area, Lakshmi, who walks there everyday, says she has observed children sitting there with their laptops to access sites that they are probably not allowed to do so from their homes.
A student of the Government Arts College says that there are many students who use it for two hours or more in a day. Most of them use it for downloading online application forms, study material and also accessing social media sites. There are some students who come to the college from remote areas and do not have internet connectivity at home and the facility is helpful to them.
The Race Course police have also observed a sharp increase in the number of people frequenting Race Course and staying on for longer hours after the launch of the Wi-Fi service.
There are complaints, especially from women who say they feel self-conscious while walking or jogging at Race Course when there are so many men sitting right there in groups with their laptops and smart phones.
It has also led to parking-related problems, as the internet users park their cars and two-wheelers in the space earmarked for walkers to park their vehicles or even on the road. The police say they have stepped up patrolling at Race Course at night and are using the public address system to ask people to leave after 10 p.m.
Mayor P. Rajkumar said the Coimbatore Corporation was open to reviewing the duration of Wi-Fi service at Race Course, if there were complaints from residents.
(Reporting by Pankaja Srinivasan, M. Soundariya Preetha, M.K. Ananth and Karthik Madhavan)
Residents and walkers question the wisdom of providing free
Wi-Fi in the area
