Soon, tourists visiting Madurai will not have to depend upon guides alone. They will automatically be led to historically important places by following particular coloured paver blocks on Madurai streets.

The novel project is underway with the state tourism department and other collaborating agencies. At present, DHAN Foundation, a NGO promoting tourism for development, organises a heritage walk every second Sunday of the month where people are taken on a tour of historical places in Madurai.

On Sunday, DHAN arranged a heritage walk covering nine important places starting from the West Tower of the Meenakshi Amman temple. These included historical places in the western part of the city like St George church, Khadikraft outlet where Gandhi stayed in 1921, Immayail Nanmai Tharuvar temple, Madhana Gopala Swamy temple, Koodalazhagar temple, Kajimar Mosque, West Gate Bastion and the European Cemetery.

Archaeological scholar V Venkataraman and history scholar R Venkataraman, explained the significance of these places to the participants. On the sidelines of the heritage walk, a senior tourism department official said that the tourism department along with agencies like DHAN had taken up the project of using paver blocks to guide people to 12 important heritage sites in the city.