The first lighthouse in Tirunelveli district, which has a 49-km-long coastline between Periyathaazhai and Koottapuli, was commissioned at Kooththenkuzhi on Thursday.
Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Laxmanbhai Mandavia inaugurated the 45-metre-tall beacon built at a cost of ₹5.50 crore through videoconferencing. Tirunelveli MP S. Gnanathiraviam and Radhapuram MLA I.S. Inbadurai remotely participated in the event.
The Directorate of Lighthouses and Lightships under the Ministry of Shipping built the lighthouse located 51 metres above sea level.
Mariners and fishermen, who use two lighthouses at Kanniyakumari and Manappad, will have one more beacon light — visible up to 20 nautical miles — to guide them on high seas. While the Kanniyakumari lighthouse is located 39 km away to the south, the Manappad facility is 40 km to the north. Hence, the Kooththenkuzhi lighthouse will bridge the 79-km gap between the two.
Two other lighthouses in the region are at Muttom (68 km in the south) and Thoothukudi (93 km in the north). Now, five lighthouses will guide fishers and mariners between the 161-km stretch from Thoothukudi and Muttom, with the facility available every 32 km.
Work on Kooththenkuzhi lighthouse with lift began in August last after the district administration allotted 3,500 sqft land and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change gave its mandatory final approval.
Although fishermen of the district are opposed to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, they say they use the red lights blinking atop the reactor domes at a height of about 100 metres to identify the coast.
