 "Lighthouse")
On a windy night in Kavaratti, just before torrential monsoons were bracing to hit India’s southern coast, a team of seafarers huddled in a boat set sail to Suheli Par, an uninhabited island in Lakshadweep. This was routine for the seasoned lighthouse officers of the archipelago who were tasked with the responsibility of bringing back the lone lighthouse attendant of the deserted Suheli Par island before the monsoons.
Somewhere along the journey, team members on the boat found themselves stuck in the worst imaginable situation – engine malfunction. They, stranded at sea for 28 hours, somehow fixed their boat but had no idea of their location anymore.
Just when all hope seemed lost, they spotted a ray of light coming from a nearby lighthouse and followed it to reach shore safely. For those familiar with the tale, that lighthouse alone saved the lives of everyone on that boat and the attendant.
For centuries, lighthouses have been the beacon of hope for scores of such voyagers. Once part of folklore for coastal residents and built hundreds of years ago, lighthouses today find little crucial value for ships with advanced navigation technology. But for local fishing communities, they bring a sense of hope, heritage, and home even today.
Now, the Centre plans to tap into this heritage and develop these lighthouses and areas around them as heritage tourism hubs. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways is looking to attract private interest and has identified 75 lighthouses for development.
To give a further boost, it will also hold a lighthouse festival from September 23 to 25 near the Aguada Lighthouse in Goa and the Madras Lighthouse in Chennai to inspire confidence in the investment potential of these projects.
The Centre had launched a similar drive in 2021, with little success. According to officials in the know, so far, only one such project, in Mahabalipuram, has seen interest.
“While core operational and security aspects will remain under the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL), the ministry is hoping to garner investments in the development of tourism facilities on the surrounding land. While many lighthouses are and will be open to tourists for scenic views, they will continue to be manned by DGLL staff,” said a ministry official.
“The revenue sharing will happen on money generated from tourist facilities, as the lighthouse operated by the government is the primary attraction,” he further said.
According to Anil Antony, director of lighthouses looking after 37 structures in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands, lighthouses will continue to hold operational value as they have been modernising with the times. At the same time, they are also a repository of coastal history, and tourism-led development through museums and other informational facilities can bring tourists closer to the history of these coasts.
In ancient times, seafarers used to light fires atop hills for navigation during the night. In the day, smoke from the burnt logs was the beacon of hope for sailors looking for shore, Antony says. Eventually, sailors began using lanterns for that purpose, and with the advent of electricity, incandescent lamps came into play.
This started the process of the amalgamation of modern science and lighthouses, with specialised lenses being imported to convert the light of the lamps into a beam of light. Many lighthouses, developed by the British in the colonial era, used this technology until the late 1980s. Today, these structures are equipped with new-age navigational systems, coastal data, and a long-range light, for which the power will be solarised.
The ministry has 194 lighthouses under its control, which are funded through a combination of receipts from foreign ships at major ports and budget grants from the government. In the financial year 2023-24, lighthouses and lightships have been provided around Rs 300 crore in the Union budget.
The DGLL currently funds itself by charging money from foreign-bound ships at ports for navigational aid, at the rate of Rs 8 per tonne from bulk cargo ships and Rs 92 per container from container vessels.
A ray of hope
- 75 lighthouses being considered for development as tourism hubs
- September 23-25 the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways will hold a lighthouse festival
- Several countries have developed their lighthouses as a tourist attraction, including:
Portland Head Light: Built in 1791 in the US; now has a museum and other facilities
Lindesnes Lighthouse: The earliest light station built in 1656 in Norway; used by Germans in World War II. Tourists see trenches, tunnels, and the fort beside the lighthouse
Maiden’s Tower: Completed in 1725 in Turkey; now has a café and a restaurant for tourists
