For the last four months, fishermen in Tranquebar and a couple of other places are finding it easier than before to reach their landing points at night. High winds and lack of lighting to guide them home used to result in their losing their way at sea and landing far away from home, but not any more.
Thanks to the installation of new hybrid guide lights, visible at least 20 to 25 km from the coastline, fishermen at Panaiyur Chinnakuppam in Kancheepuram district, Tranquebar near Nagapattinam and Somanathan Pattinam in Thanjavur district are finding safe harbour at night with little difficulty.
These hybrid guide lights are slightly different from traditional lighthouses, as they do not have a round dome, and their beams rotate. However, they are distinguished by white bulbs that do not blink. Apart from these three villages, two more hybrid lights will come up at Mandapam near Rameswaram and Thoothur in Kanyakumari district in the next 15 days.
Having installed the first hybrid wind and solar lighting system at Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation's Rain Drop Boathouse in Mudaliarkuppam some 22 months back, Coimbatore-based Viviann Electric Pvt Ltd hit upon the cost-effective hybrid guide lights, when the Fisheries Department officials sought its technical know-how to enable fishermen to reach their destinations on time.
Talking to The Hindu , the company's Managing Director Vimal A. Vincent said that due to high winds and non-functioning of guide lights, fishermen often landed 30 to 40 km away. Some of the lights were not functioning at these villages as there was no power supply due to non-payment of taxes.
“At present, each of these hybrid lights are useful to the boats from 10 to 15 fishing villages. Fifteen more hybrid lights are required to cover the State's entire coastline. The energy generated from this tower will be used to illuminate the guide light and the pathway in and around the tower. Later, the extra power can be used for illuminating nearby places too. Switching on and off is done automatically by a sensor installed in the system,” he said.
