Port Louis, April 1: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today paid tribute at the Apravasi Ghat here that, ironically, was named by his Mauritian counterpart of French origin.

It was there that the earliest boatloads of Indian indentured labourers poured in after the British carved out a landing place at Trou Fanfaron in 1856 and earmarked it as the Immigration Depot.

When the first boatloads touched base in the 1840s, there was no permanent place to dock the ships and house the people coming from Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, all imported by the British.

Now described as the ?gateway of the Indian diaspora in Mauritius?, the depot used to maintain a register of names, pen sketches/photograph and place of origin of every immigrant. Most fourth or fifth generation persons of Indian origin here are able to trace their ancestors because of these records.

The ghat, long called Coolie Ghat, was renamed Apravasi Ghat in 2001 following a legislation pushed by Prime Minister Paul Berenger.

But for the younger pravasis (immigrants), Singh?s tour is remarkable not so much for the nostalgia message in the ghat visit but for his inauguration of the Ebene Cyber Towers.

With the traditional sugar and textiles industries subject to the pressure of competition triggered by the World Trade Organisation, Mauritius is looking at information technology as the new sunrise sector.