Digha, May 1: The Digha-Shankarpur Development Authority (DSDA) has asked police to set up a separate control room to monitor the beach and prevent tourists from venturing into the sea during high tide.

The decision was taken at a meeting between the DSDA and the additional superintendent of police, Indrajit Basu, on Friday. The moves comes in the wake of the death of two tourists by drowning in Digha and the rescue of at least 30 visitors who had ventured into deep sea in April.

A DSDA official said the existing system involved issuing pre-recorded warnings to tourists over loudspeakers and asking them not to go near the sea during high tide.

"The announcements were made from two kiosks operated by the police. But this system is not adequate. What about an emergency? So, we have urged the police to set up a control room from where officers will monitor the beach crowd through CCTV cameras. At present, there are about 20 CCTV cameras in Digha, half of which are on the beach," the official said.

"Currently, there is no provision of directly raising an alarm even after something untoward is captured by the cameras. Now, two dozen-odd loudspeakers would be connected to the control room and several monitors added. The cops on duty in the control room will be able to scan the entire beach and make announcements on loudspeakers," the official added.

At present, there are about 20 policemen, 30 civil defence and 40 civic police volunteers patrolling the Digha beach in two shifts.

Additional SP Basu said: "We have taken the decision to set up a separate control room at Digha police station. We hope this system will help us to keep a good watch on tourists."