WILLINGDON ISLAND

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Context

Cochin Port unions urge PM Modi to revive lost glory of Willingdon Island.

Details

Willingdon Island

• It is the largest artificial island in India, which forms part of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala.
• History: The island was created during the construction of the modern port in 1936, with the soil dredged out while deepening the Vembanad Lake to accommodate the new port. It was named after The 1st Earl of Willingdon, the Viceroy of India at the time, who commissioned the project
• Much of the present Willingdon Island was claimed from the Vembanadu Lake, filling in dredged soil around a previously existing, but tiny, natural island.

Significance

• Willingdon Island is significant as the home for the Port of Kochi as well as the Kochi Naval Base, the Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy, Plant Quarantine station, Custom House Cochin and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, a constituent unit of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
• The Cochin Port Maritime Heritage Museum is located in the island.