Pareekshith Shet
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Jul 9: Beaches in coastal Karnataka have always been sought after by tourists who flock them for enjoying sea breeze, enjoyable ambience of the beach, and roar of the sea.

Malpe beach near here is one of the most popular locations of the coast. Every year, lacs of people visit this beach, and get lured by the expanse of sea to visit the beach time and again. Many of them get so much enamoured by the beauty of the sea that they venture into the sea and lose themselves in the cool water of the sea, totally forgetting what is happening in the shore. Many thieves, who wait for the people to enter the sea after leaving their valuables including cellphones, purses, gold chains etc on the shore, steal these thing the moment the attention of tourists get diverted.

Now, closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) have been provided at Malpe beach. The beach has already been WiFi enabled through which tourists get free WiFi facility for half an hour. Additional boats have also been pressed into service for the convenience of tourists wanting to visit St Mary's island. With these additional facilities, there has been an increased inflow of tourists into this beach.

Keeping an eye on the movements of thieves in this busy beach had posed a challenge for the policemen of Malpe police station. Now, CCTV cameras will keep vigil day and night over parking area and Malpe beach. These modern cameras are suitable for all the seasons, and footage of these cameras are being continuously monitored by Malpe police.

As per information, there has been decline in the number of thefts at the beach after these CCTV cameras were fitted. At the same time, care has been taken to respect the privacy of the visitors by taking care to turn cameras away from the sea.