The passenger ships don’t call at this uninhabited Island It has to be approached by Lighthouse tender M.V. Sagardeep or by special boats engaged from Kavaratti. M.V.Sagardeep anchors at Northern tip off Valiya Kara. From anchorage the remaining distance through the lagoon to Cheriyakara has to be covered by Pablo boats.
The whole of Suhelipar atoll is in two parts Valiyakara and Cheriyakara; they are connected by a narrow as well as shallow sand bar which dries down during low tides. The entire atoll is uninhabited island. The islanders from Kavaratti have planted coconut trees on the island. They camp on the island for collection of coconuts and Tuna fishing during the fair season.
The island lies on Aden – Colombo Sea route, therefore this light is an important landmark. The cast iron tower designed by Mr SK Lahiri and supplied by M/s B.B.T.Paris was erected here in the year 1974-75 over which FLEK lantern house supplied by M/s India Oxygen Ltd, was installed. The lighting equipment – Dal’en mixer with 4 sets of mantles inside 300 mm revolving optic assembly supplied by M/s AGA, England was installed and commissioned into service on 24th April 1975. The system consisted of gas motor to revolve the optic assembly. In 1985 the ‘Marconi’ Racon with code ‘O’ was installed on the Lighthouse which became operational on 15th March 1985
Under the programme of substituting the DA gas, the revolving optic assembly was taken out and the 500mm drum optic with halogen lamp operating on ‘Jyoti Punj’ (JLWL) flasher and VRLA Batteries charged by solar panels was installed by joint team of Cochin and Jamnagar and was commissioned into service on 17th November 1995. |
