Sonowal Launches India’s First River Lighthouses on Brahmaputra to Aid 24×7 Inland Shipping

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal has laid the foundation stones for India’s first riverine lighthouses on the Brahmaputra, a move aimed at boosting safe inland navigation and cargo movement on National Waterway‑2.

At a ceremony in Guwahati, Sonowal launched four lighthouses to be built at Pandu (Kamrup Metro), Bogibeel, Silghat and Biswanath Ghat in Assam, all strategic locations along busy cargo and passenger stretches of the river. The ₹84‑crore project will see each lighthouse rise up to 20 metres, powered entirely by solar energy, with a geographical range of about 14 nautical miles and a luminous range of 8–10 nautical miles to support 24×7 navigation.

Designed by the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) and executed with the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the towers will also host weather and river condition sensors, creating critical infrastructure for safer barge and ferry operations, tourism and multimodal logistics on the Brahmaputra.