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This is an archive article published on November 24, 1997
Hukitala port faces oblivion
KENDRAPARA, Nov 23: The Nestled between Gobari river and the Paradeep port, Hukitala island, in the Bay of Bengal, is past its days of glor...
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KENDRAPARA, Nov 23: The Nestled between Gobari river and the Paradeep port, Hukitala island, in the Bay of Bengal, is past its days of glory. While the ravages of time has made the once bustling port just a shadow of its past prime, poor maintenance threatens to blow away what remains of the present too.
During the British period Hukitala, which derives its name from a tax collected from the ships passing the island, was a navigation centre and it functioned as a small harbour. The monuments, of which only one remains, erected in the place also carried strains of European building expertise.
The monument at Hukitala, built around 1860, important in Orissa’s maritime and political history, is yet to be declared a protected monument by the Archaeological Survey of India . One of the two staircases, is on the verge of collapse. During World War II, the island was used by the Britishers as a naval base. The island has witnessed the bombing of Kujang, 15 km from here, by the Japanese in 1944. A ship was sunk by a fighter aircraft near the island in 194. However, the govt has not taken any initiative to retrieve the ship.
There has been some belated attempts to transform the building into a tourist resort. Tourism Minister, Srikanta Jena who recently visited Hukitola surveyed the site has reportedly assured funds for the maintenance of the building.
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