New Delhi: A luxury cruise will be operated from Varanasi to Assam’s Dibrugarh via Bangladesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate it tomorrow (Jan.13) through video.
In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency. Since then the Prime Minister has been focusing more on the development projects of Varanasi and Ganga. One of these is a luxury cruise called ‘Ganga Vilas’ from Varanasi to Assam’s Dibrugarh from tomorrow.
Rakesh Kumar, Deputy Director of the Inland Waterways Authority of India’s Varanasi office, told the ‘Hindu Tamil Vektik’ newspaper, “This will be the longest-distance luxury ship in the world. Its travel distance is about 4,000 km. is This distance will be covered in 52 days through 5 states of UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam and neighboring Bangladesh. After reaching the port of Dhaka in Bangladesh, it travels through the Brahmaputra river to reach Dibrugarh in the state of Assam. For this, a draft level of 1.5 meters in depth has to be maintained throughout the year. In towns where there is no place to park this luxury ship, the government will help by providing boats for passengers to board and disembark,” he said.
A private company called ‘Heritage Rivers Journeys’ is operating the luxury cruise that PM Modi will launch tomorrow.
Speaking to ‘Hindu Tamil Vektik’ newspaper, Raj Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of this company, said, “All the facilities of five star hotels except swimming pool are available in Ganga Vilas. It was built in Kolkata as an Indian product. It was designed by Annapoorna Karimela, director of our company.
4 luxury ships of our company are already plying on the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers of Kolkata. 4 ferries also operate on the Mahanadi of Odisha. Ganga Vilas is our 9th luxury cruise. Its value is around 70 crores.
We are also ready to launch such luxury cruises in Andhra’s Godavari, Chennai’s Buckingham Canal and Cauvery. Let the luxury ships clean the Buckingham Canal and steadily deepen the Cauvery. I think that we can talk to the central and state governments and devise a plan for this,” he said.
Ganga Vilas is expected to charge between Rs 25,000 and Rs 35,000 per day. The ship has 18 staterooms with sleeping facilities. International cuisine is also available at the star hotel.
In its first trip, 36 passengers from Switzerland will be accommodated. For them, a guide who knows German and French travels in Ganga Vilas. They will be shown around 50 tourist spots including World Heritage sites on their way.
In the opening ceremony, U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, along with Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, will attend the event on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi.
The arrangements are being made under the chairmanship of Varanasi District Collector S. Rajalingam.
