PM Modi To Launch World's Largest River Cruise From Varanasi To Assam On January 13
India's prestige project Ganga Vilas project, was announced in November 2022, which involves the commencement of a cruise service with a travel course of 4,000 kilometres.
It was reported that the luxury boat will have a route from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh. Now that 2023 is here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will signal its start on January 13.?
The service will be commenced three days post the tentative deadline of January 10, announced in November by Sarbananda Sonowal, the minister of shipping and waterways.
This will be a unique cruise: PM Modi?
The recreational vessel will travel along 27 river systems in India, including the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly, Brahmaputra, and West Coast Canal, in a span of 50 days.?Prime Minister updated about the project on Friday while he launched several West Bengal projects via video conference.??
"This will be a unique cruise in the world and a reflection of growing cruise tourism in India. I request people of West Bengal to take the benefit of this," PM Modi said.
Throughout the journey, the passengers aboard the cruise will travel across 50 significant tourist destinations, witnessing the iconic Varanasi Ganga Aarti and protected areas like Kaziranga National Park and the Sundarbans Delta.
The Bangladesh voyage during the sail will comprise over 1,100 kilometres.?
The Prime Minister stated that the Center has been tasked with creating 100 national waterways to see world-class cruises running on these rivers in addition to cargo flow.??
Operated under PPP model
The cruise run by a private player would be a regular fixture, according to a senior official of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the organisation in charge of National Waterways (NWs).
The officials stated that the India-Bangladesh Protocol route's growth significantly influenced the cruise service's planning.
Our civilisation developed along rivers, therefore, visitors taking river cruises will have a greater understanding of our history and heritage, according to an IWAI official quoted by Times Of India.
Sonowal, in November 2022, announced that the cruise would be operated under the PPP model by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Antara Luxury River Cruises and JM Baxi River Cruises.
According to Antara, it will be operating a river cruise vessel with 18 suites and all other associated facilities.?
It is built with a unique design and a futuristic vision; this cruise will meander across prominent destinations along Kolkata's River Hooghly to Varanasi's River Ganges.
Sonowal recently stated that one of the government's top priorities is the growth of coastal and river shipping, mainly cruise services.
Will put India and Bangladesh on river cruise map
In his November update, Sarbananda Sonowal claimed that this initiative would put India and Bangladesh on the river cruise map of the world.
"This will be the single largest river journey by a single river ship in the world and would put both India and Bangladesh on the river cruise map of the world," Sonowal said.
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