The hill range on which Lighthouse exists is known as Yarada Konda and the site at which lighthouse is constructed is known as Dolphin’s Nose over looking the entrance to Visakhapatnam Harbour. Visakhapatnam is a natural Harbour in the back waters formed by Meghadri River and hills around. An all weather road links lighthouse to the city. A flagstaff was raised on the fort in 1902 for hoisting storm warning signals. Then a light was placed on a 15 m circular asonry tower constructed close to the flag mast. This was the first lighted beacon in the region followed by break water lights in 1932. In 1926 two sites Nekonda point and Dolphin’s Nose had been inspected by the lighthouse Expert Mr Alan D. Stevenson for the construction of a major lighthouse and he recommended in favour of Dolphin’s nose site. Accordingly a beacon was provided near the present lighthouse site in 1940. It was a DA gas flasher of AGA make and remained in service up to 1957 when the new lighthouse was ready after installation of lighting equipment supplied by M/s B.B.T., Paris. It was inaugurated by Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri, then Minister of Transport and Communication on 15th June 1957 in presence of Mr Nagendra Singh, Secretary and Mr S.K. Lahiri, Director General of Lighthouses and Lightships. The light Source was changed from incandescent lamp to metal halide lamp on 20th July 1997. The Radio Beacon equipment supplied by M/s Nippon, Japan was installed at the station which became operational on 1st March 1961. This equipment was replaced by solid state version supplied by M/s MACE, Visakhapatnam on 6th January 1991. Station was changed over to transmitting DGPS correction on 31st August 1998. The DGPS equipment manufactured by M/s Leica Geo Systems, USA and supplied and installed by M/s Elcom Marine, Mumbai
|
|