The COVID-19 pandemic has brought life around lighthouses along Kerala’s coast to a standstill. There is no footfall but the beacon lights still shine, just as they have always been despite the mariners depending heavily on emerging technologies.
Kerala’s lighthouses, with easy access to the public, are unlike many sleepy towers in many parts of the country. They are frequented by visitors, from tourists curious about what these tall structures do for seafarers to history enthusiasts.
20 in all
Of the 20 lighthouses along the State’s coast, the ones at Vizhinjam, Thankassery, Alappuzha, Vypeen and Kannur are the most popular with visitors. The enthusiasm was so much that the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships established museums in Kannur and Alappuzha. A musical fountain is ready at Vizhinjam. Alappuzha’s museum is the country’s first lighthouse museum built after a heritage theme.
But silence is pervading these facilities now. But it was temporary, sources said, pointing out that the facilities at Vizhinjam used to have a large number of visitors and ticket collection often touched around ₹4 lakh a month.
“The relevance of lighthouses has not diminished a bit despite the change in technology and the way mariners find their way in the sea,” said I.C.R. Prasad, a historian of lighthouses with about 40 years of experience with the Directorate of Lighthouses.
Draft Bill
The lighthouses are once again in focus with the Union government publishing the draft of the Aids to Navigation Bill, 2020.
The Bill is proposed to replace the nearly a century-old Lighthouse Act 1927 to incorporate best practices in the world, technological developments and India’s international obligations in the field of Aids to Marine Navigation, said a communication from the Ministry of Shipping .
