After all the announcements on free wi-fi at various public places, here’s the last place you’d expect to have the service — literally, the place where the dead go.

A crematorium on New Avadi Road, Anna Nagar, is all set to go hi-tech with a free wi-fi facility from Saturday.

While jokes have been cracked about whether this would allow communication with the dear departed, the organisers say that it serves a practical purpose.

The free wi-fi will help relatives of the deceased to live stream the last rites being performed at the crematorium back home or to relatives living abroad, and others who were unable to attend the funeral.

The facility will be inaugurated at the Greater Chennai Corporation Velankadu crematorium that is managed by the non-governmental organisation, Indian Community Welfare Organisation.

Its founder secretary, A.J. Hariharan, said the idea came to him after a recent incident where an old lady staying in London could not attend the funeral of a close relative in Chennai. Other relatives took pictures to send to her in London.

“This is when I thought about this option. If we provide free wi-fi here, then, a number of people might like to use it to stream videos of the proceedings to those who, for any reason, cannot be present.”

“This will also help relatives and friends living abroad to virtually visit the crematorium to view the proceedings through live streaming. We are getting high speed internet connectivity which will enable streaming. Also, we figured people can share the location of the crematorium with a GPS pin on social media sites, to help others reach the spot.

Sponsorship for one year

About 20 people will be able to use the facility during the working hours of the crematorium (8 a.m.- 6 p.m.). As of now, we have paid up for a year, thanks to our sponsors,” Mr. Hariharan said.

The facility is being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Meenambakkam for one year.

It would be extended to more hours depending on the patronage, said Mr. Hariharan.

There are also plans to facilitate live telecast some funerals on the web in the coming months, with the concurrence of the relatives, he added.

MADURAI: A monitoring-cum-control centre, a centralised system for monitoring all the works of the Madurai Corporation for efficient delivering, set up at a cost of Rs 17.20 lakh was inaugurated by state minister Sellur K Raju on Friday and a corporation park, which was renovated by the Madurai chapter of the Soroptimist International, was also inaugurated.

This centralised system, which will be monitored 24x7 by the officials is expected to bring about efficiency in the system. Madurai Corporation commissioner Sandeep Nanduri said that four video walls had been installed into which all the software of the corporation had been integrated. The trucks, which would supply water to the wards that have not got pipeline connections, will be monitored using the GPRS system.

As Madurai is facing an acute water crisis, many private trucks have also been roped in to tackle the problem. The vehicles, fitted with GPRS systems would be monitored from the control room, right from the time water is loaded for distribution. The system will enable the diversion of some vehicles to the nearest locations if the water requirement there is more than their supply areas. The number of trips made by the water tankers, their distribution method, and any breakdown of the vehicle can be monitored through the system. The pipelines' system including the input/output to the treatment plant would be monitored through the system.

Streetlights are another facility which can be managed effectively through this control unit as the streets and their lights have been mapped, and each street light has been fitted with a sim card which will send a signal to the control room when it is working. The staff at the control room can rectify any faulty light from this tracking mechanism.

Grievances with regard to the Madurai Corporation are received through various ways, like social media, corporation website, representations to the commissioner, petitions received through the district collector's office or through email. All these grievances received would be segregated according to the concerned department and action taken report would be given to the petitioner also.

Meanwhile, the Bharathiar park of the Madurai Corporation on Alagarkoil Road, which was renovated at a cost of Rs 28.70 lakh with the help of the Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Madurai chapter of the Soroptimist International was also inaugurated on Saturday.

The park, which has been designed by architects Shamini Vignesh, has been paved with paver blocks, and is spread over an area of 10,000 sqft. A statue of poet Bharathiar with a book in his hand has been installed in the park. Though there are no seating arrangements, facilities have be made for both walking and sitting. The park has got a brightly coloured makeover with a rainwater harvesting system in place. The architects said that there is also a plan to paint poems by the poet and related pictures on the walls of the park.