Guwahati: Union minister for ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday laid the foundation stones for India’s first riverine lighthouses on the banks of the Brahmaputra, part of National Waterway-2 (NW-2), with four facilities planned across Assam at an estimated cost of Rs 84 crore.The lighthouses will be built at Pandu, Bogibeel, Silghat and Biswanath Ghat, officials said, calling it the first instance of lighthouse infrastructure being set up on an inland waterway in India.
The foundation-laying event was held at Lachit Ghat and jointly organised by the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) and the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI).NW-2 runs from Dhubri in western Assam to Sadiya in the far east, spanning a navigable length of 891 km, the longest such stretch among Indian waterways. Sonowal described the four lighthouses as the start of a wider programme to equip inland waterways with navigational safety systems similar to those used along India’s coasts.Each site is planned to combine navigation and public amenities, with a museum, amphitheatre, cafeteria, children’s play area, souvenir shop and landscaped open spaces, positioning the facilities as both operational navigation points and tourism destinations.The lighthouses are planned to enable 24×7 safe movement, incorporate weather-monitoring sensors, and support long-term expansion in freight and passenger traffic on the river.A govt release said the locations were selected as strategic points on the Brahmaputra corridor: Bogibeel in Dibrugarh district, Pandu in Kamrup (Metro) district, Silghat in Nagaon district on the south bank, and Biswanath Ghat in Biswanath district on the north bank.Citing growing traffic on NW-2, Sonowal said inland water transport could reduce emissions, road congestion and accident risks while strengthening supply chains in the northeast. “The Deepstambh lighthouses will make night navigation safe and reliable, removing the single largest barrier to round-the-clock waterway operations,” said Sonowal.
