The huge cruise ship 'Ganga Vilas'. Its bright interior is like a five-star hotel. Various entertainment events are held inside it. It has started its journey from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India. It will reach Assam via the river route of Bangladesh. The cruise ship will travel 3,200 kilometers, the longest waterway in the world. The journey will take 51 days. Of these, it will stay in Bangladesh for 15 days. At least 50 places of historical and architectural significance will be visited on the route. Tourists boarding it will visit these places.
The name 'Ganga Luxury' is apt. Because, boarding it is a luxury. The fare per person per day for traveling on this ship will be 25 to 50 thousand rupees. The minimum cost for a 51-day trip will be 12 lakh 50 thousand rupees, which is about 16 lakh taka in Bangladeshi currency.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the cruise ship MV Ganga Vilas via video conference in Varanasi on Friday. Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were present. The cruise ship was carrying 32 Swiss tourists and one German tourist as passengers on its maiden voyage. There are also seven crew members.
The length of Ganga Vilas is 62.5 meters; width is 12.8 meters. It has LED television, smoke detector life jacket, French balcony, 40-seat restaurant, spa, sundeck, etc. It also has a sewage treatment system. This treatment will make the water suitable for bathing and other purposes for tourists by drawing it from the Palgant River. Cultural programs will be organized for entertainment during the trip. Apart from this, there is also a gym facility to maintain fitness.
The cruise ship will travel from Varanasi to Bihar-Kolkata and then to Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh. Of this, it will cover about 1,100 kilometers of river routes in Bangladesh. During the journey, Ganga Vilas will float on 27 rivers. However, it will visit at least 50 places like the Sundarbans Delta, Ganga Aarti, the Black Magic of Mayang in Assam and Kaziranga National Park.
The ship will start its journey from Sant Ramdas Ghat in Ramnagar Port of Varanasi and will reach Kolkata via Gazipur-Bopar-Chhapra-Patna-Munger-Bouddha Gaya-Nalanda in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Farakka-Murshidabad in West Bengal. After a one-day break, it will enter the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans via Namkhana-Sajnekhali in the Sundarbans part of West Bengal. Later, it will reach Dhaka in February via Mongla Port-Bagerhat-Morelganj-Barisal-Sonargaon. Then, it will reach Guwahati in mid-February via Aricha-Tangail-Sirajganj-Chilmari-Dhubri-Goalpara in Assam. Later, it will reach Majuli Island towards the end of February. It will end its journey by reaching Dibrugarh in Assam on March 1. The cruise ship will travel on this longest waterway in the world.
After inaugurating the boat, Narendra Modi said, "The launch of the world's longest cruise service on the Ganges is a groundbreaking moment. This project will usher in a new era in India's tourism map." Addressing the passengers of the Ganga Bilas, he said, "India has everything you can imagine. Not only that, there is much more here than you can imagine."
The cruise ship's director, Raj Singh, said that the three-story ship cost 68 crore rupees (more than 86 crore 95 lakh taka in Bangladeshi currency) to decorate.
Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said about the Ganga Vilas cruise that the Ganga Vilas cruise will help foreign tourists understand the history, culture, and spirituality of India and Bangladesh.
The Varanasi-Bangladesh-Dibrugarh cruise will be operated on the basis of the public-private partnership model (PP model) in India. For this, the Indian government has signed an agreement with two popular cruise companies of the Inland Waterways Authority of India, Antara Lapari River and JM Bopi River Cruises. Tickets for the journey can be booked from the websites of the two private companies. However, if you do not have the time and money to book the entire trip, you can also book a package from Varanasi to Kolkata or from Kolkata to Dibrugarh to enjoy the sea.
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