You can stretch your legs for one more km on beach

Scheme mooted to lengthen the beach by about a kilometre on either side — the Old Distillery and the Sea Gulls restaurant ends in Puducherry.— Photo: T. Singaravelou

The Promenade Beach, a popular rendezvous for tourists and holidaying crowds, is set to become bigger and better.

The Budget for 2014-15 has mooted a scheme to lengthen the stretch by about a kilometre on either side — the Old Distillery and the Sea Gulls Restaurant ends.

The Promenade Beach is attractive not merely for its spectacular view of the Bay of Bengal but for its snapshot offering of what the city is all about.

Apart from housing the Gandhi Thidal and the Lighthouse, the stretch opposite the coast is dotted with heritage buildings and landmark monuments such as the War Memorial and the children’s square with the statue of Dupleix (former Governor-general Joseph Francois Marquis Dupleix).

Always a favoured spot for habitual and casual walkers, the ratings of the Beach area as a paradise for pedestrians shot up after the police imposed a vehicular ban on the stretch a few years ago.