Lighthouses to promote tourism

The Ministry of Shipping and Surface Transport has identified several lighthouses in the country to promote lighthouses based tourism that would be integrated with beach tourism. According to technical staff at the Nizamapatnam Light House, Guntur district, the directorate mainly earns its revenues from the outgoing foreign and Indian ships that pass through the ports.

Fourteen lighthouses stationed in districts from Vizianagaram to Nellore earn about Rs.150 crore every year. Visakhapatnam and Kakinada ports give the largest chunk of revenue earned by the directorate in the AP state.

The office of the lighthouses directorate at Visakhapatnam supervises the functioning of fourteen lighthouses in coastal AP. At places where there is no established lighthouse, the directorate has ship lighthouses, which are otherwise called floating lighthouses.

As part of technology upgradation initiative for providing better services to ships and mariners, radar transponders are being installed at several lighthouses in the state; including Vakalapudi, Ramayyapeta and Dolphin’s Nose in Visakhapatnam.

Fishing vessels benefit from their services too when they have radars installed in their vessels: they receive direction and signals from a lighthouse when lost. The potential for the development of minor ports is huge and coastal transportation can be promoted especially for the movement of local cargos, which will fetch revenues to the government.

This initiative will help attract tourists who are inquisitive to watch the ships parked in high seas and the vast expanse of the ocean through the lighthouses’ telescopic lenses.

By RAVI P.BENJAMIN