Women residents of Sembakkam in Chennai will soon have a dedicated recreational space to exercise, unwind and spend time without safety concerns. Tambaram corporation plans to construct a ₹1.25-crore women-only pink park at Nadesan Nagar 2nd Street in ward 23 of Sembakkam Zone, spread across nearly 18,000 sqft. The park, developed using the corporation’s general fund, is expected to be completed in four months.
Facilities and Safety Features
The facility will include a gym exclusively for women, open gym, walking tracks, seating areas, recreational spaces for elderly women and children’s play equipment. To improve safety, the park will be equipped with CCTV cameras connected to the integrated command and control centre (ICCC) for round-the-clock monitoring. Officials said the park will also feature inclusive play equipment, including wheelchair-friendly swings, sand banks and ground-level merry-go-rounds for the visually impaired, autistic and wheelchair users.
Resident Reactions
Revathy Gopalakrishanan, a resident of Sembakkam, said, “It is a welcome move by the corporation to build a women-only park. Many parks in the corporation limits have become a haven for tipplers who use them for illegal activities. At pink parks, women can relax without anyone troubling them.”
M Krishna Kumar, secretary of Sathya Nagar residents’ welfare association, offered a contrasting view: “It has been more than a decade since the corporation took any stringent action to restore the smaller waterbodies. The corporation focuses on aesthetic development while the basic infrastructure still lags in many areas.”
Official Statements and Implementation
Tambaram corporation commissioner S Balachander said officials were instructed to monitor the work and ensure its timely completion — through the ICCC and supported by regular police patrols. Tambaram corporation currently maintains around 100 parks across its jurisdiction. However, civic officials admitted that park development was not prioritised during the corporation’s initial years due to financial constraints. “Now that we have a surplus budget, more parks will be developed using capital funds,” a senior corporation official said.
