PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE ON OPENING OF TO VISITORS, INAUGURATION OF LIGHTHOUSE TECHNICAL MUSEUM AND FOUNDATION LAYING CEREMONY FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL NAVTEX NETWORK

The Directorate General of and Lightships is an Organization under the Ministry of Shipping which is responsible for providing Aids to Marine Navigation has 185 lighthouses dotting the 7560 Kms coastline of . They ensure safe navigation for mariners in the Indian waters. These lighthouses are provided with state of the art Aids to Marine Navigation system which also includes National Automatic Identification System comprising 74 base stations,23 Differential Global Positioning System(DGPS) 64 Radar beacons 22 deep sea buoys, 5 wreck marking buoys ,Vessel traffic service in the gulf of kuchch for aids to navigation and coastal surveillance.

The first Madras Lighthouse established during 1796 and functioned up to 1843 in the Exchange committee building. The second Madras lighthouse functioned from the 135feet fluted granite stone faced tower, later popularly known as 'Doric column' referring to its architectural style, was commissioned on the 1 st January 1844 and it was functioning till 1894

The third Lighthouse on High Court tower was commissioned on 1 st June 1894. The building of Hindu Saracenic architectural style which is still an eye catcher, attracted public at the time of inauguration itself. Once the lighthouse was opened for public, long queues were formed to see the lighthouse and authorities was facing difficulties to allow them, as the stairs to the -2-

Lighthouse top are too narrow. The tower is under the control of Public works department and the entry to the tower is through the High court building where visitors are restricted due to security reasons.

The present Lighthouse is the fourth one which was commissioned on 10 th January 1977. The visitors were allowed to this Lighthouse till 1991. Thereafter the same was stopped due to technical reasons. Today the Lighthouse is provided with new elevator and other infrastructure for viewing the scenic beauty form the top of the lighthouse. Now the Hon’ble Union Minister is going to formally inaugurate the visitors entry to the Lighthouse as a part of promotion of tourism to the Lighthouses.

The Hon’ble Union Minister of shipping launched a programme on promotion of tourism in the lighthouse during February 2011. Under the Directorate general of Lighthouses and Lightships 15 Lighthouses have been identified for the same. Madras Lighthouse and Mahabalipuram Lighthouse are the first among those Lighthouses were the projects are being taken up now.

Accordingly, a Lighthouse technical museum in the Madras Lighthouse premises has been setup. The technical museum provides an insight in to human endeavour in evolving aids to navigation technology as the navigation needs progressively became more demanding .In the museum you will have the glimpses of vintage equipment like Aladdin lamp , petroleum vapor burners, gas flashers sun valves etc and also -3- electronics and electrical devises used for safe navigation. Thiru G.K.VASAN, the Hon’ble Union Minister also inaugurates today the Lighthouse technical Museum.

A heritage museum is under establishment at Mahabalipuram Lighthouse, which will be commissioned shortly

NAVTEX (NAVIGATIONAL TELEX)

NAVTEX is an international automated medium frequency direct printing service for delivery of navigational and meteorological warning and forecast .Search and rescue information and pirate warning to ship

The Indian NAVTEX network comprises seven transmitting stations spread along the 7560 Kms costal line to broadcast maritime safety information to mariners up to A2 (250NM) The seven Navtex transmitting stations are VERAVAL in Gujarat, VENGURLA POINT in Maharashtra , MUTTOM POINT and PORTONOVA in Tamil Nadu, VAKKALPUDI in Andhra Pradesh , BALASORe in Odisha and KEATING POINT in Andaman & Nichobar. An emergency NAVTEX control centre is also being established at Visakapattanam to ensure uninterrupted service to the Mariners

The foundation laying ceremony for the above establishment is also being made by the Hon’ble Union Minister toady the 14 th November 2013