New Delhi, Mar 28 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the light houses are unique in terms of tourism and because of their grand structures they (light houses) have always been centres of attraction for people.
Addressing the 75th edition of his monthly radio broadcast - 'Mann Ki Baat', the Prime Minister said, 'I have talked of different aspects of tourism several times during 'Mann Ki Baat', but these light houses are unique in terms of tourism. Because of their grand structures light houses have always been centres of attraction for people.'
He said to promote tourism, 71 light houses have been identified in India too.
The Prime Minister said in all these light houses, depending on their capacities, museums,amphi-theatres, open air theatres, cafeterias, children's parks, eco friendly cottages and landscaping will be built.
'My dear countrymen, do you remember the Maritime India Summit held sometime ago? Do you remember what I had said at this summit? Naturally, so many programmes keep happening, so many things get said, how does one remember all and how does one pay attention either… naturally! But I felt nice that Guru Prasad ji carried forward one of my requests with interest. At this summit, I had talked of developing tourism facilities around the light house complexes in the country,' he said.
'Guru Prasad ji has shared experiences of his travel in 2019 to two light houses- Chennai light house and Mahabalipuram light house. He has shared very interesting facts which will astonish even the listeners of 'Mann Ki Baat'. For example, Chennai light house is one of those select light houses of the world which have elevators. Not only this, it is also the only light house in India which is within the city limits. It has solar panels too for electricity,' the Prime Minister said.
'Guru Prasad ji also talked about the heritage Museum of the light house, which brings forth the history of marine navigation. Giant wicks of oil lamps, kerosene lights, petroleum vapour, and electric lamps that were used in olden times are exhibited at the museum. Guru Prasad ji has also written in detail about the oldest light house of India- Mahabalipuram light house.
He says that beside this light house there is the 'Ulkaneshwar' temple built hundreds of years ago by Pallava king MahendraVerman First,' Mr Modi said.
'By the way, as we are talking of light houses I would also like to tell you about a unique light house. This light house is at a place called Jinjhuwada in Surendra Nagar district of Gujarat. Do you know why this light house is special? It is special, because now the sea coast is more than a hundred kilometers away from where this light house is. You will find such stones too in this village which tell us that there must have been a busy harbour here in the past. That means, earlier the coastline was up to Jinjhuwada. Advancing, receding, moving back, retreating so far away of the sea is also a feature of it,' he said.
Mr Modi said this month it is going to be 10 years since the horrifying tsunami that hit Japan. Thousands of people had lost their lives to this tsunami.
'A similar tsunami had hit India in 2004. During the tsunami we lost 14 of our employees working at our light house; they were on duty at the light houses in Andaman Nicobar and Tamil Nadu.
I pay respectful homage to these hard working light keepers of ours and have high regard for their work,' the Prime Minister said.
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