Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, flagged off the ‘MV Ganga Vilas’, the world’s longest river cruise. He termed it an amalgam of the modern and the ancient and said that the cruise would open new vistas for tourists from across the world.
Addressing the function virtually, the Prime Minister said that the cruise will bring several tourist destinations on the world map and give a never-before experience to tourists who can savour the food, culture, religious diversity and natural resources of the country.
“India has everything you can imagine and much more than what you can imagine. India can only be experienced,” he said. He said that the Ganga was not a mere river but a part of Bharatiya heritage.
The Prime Minister said that this cruise will pave the way for more such cruises on budget and luxury categories. He said that there is a need to encourage water transport since this will also ensure a boost to the economy and offer self-employment opportunities for the youth.
The ‘MV Ganga Vilas’ luxury triple-deck cruise will travel 3,200 km in 51 days. This five-star moving hotel has 18 suites with the capacity of 36 tourists. Apart from this, it has accommodation for 40 crew members. The modernist ship is 62 meters in length and 12 meters wide and requires a draft of 1.4 meters.
The world’s longest river voyage will run from Varanasi to Dibrugarh and the journey will cost approximately Rs 13 lakh, approximately with an average fare for per person being about Rs 25,000 per night. It will take tourists across 27 river systems in five states in Bharat and Bangladesh, and will cruise through various prominent destinations.
According to a statement from Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh issued in Lucknow, the cruise will cover 50 tourist destinations, including world heritage sites, national parks, river ghats, and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Guwahati in Assam.
The itinerary of MV Ganga Vilas has been curated in a way to showcase the rich heritage of Bharat with stopovers made at places of historical, cultural and religious importance. The journey will start after witnessing Ganga Aarti and a visit to Sarnath, a place of great reverence for Buddhism.
The travellers will visit the Bihar School of Yoga and Vikramshila University, allowing them to soak in the rich Hindu heritage in spirituality and knowledge. The cruise will also be covering Mayong, known for its Hindu Tantric craft, and Majuli, the largest river island and hub of Hindu Vaishnavite culture in Assam. The cruise will also traverse through the biodiversity rich world heritage sites of Sunderbans in Bay of Bengal delta, famous for royal Bengal tigers, as well as Kaziranga National Park, famous for one-horn rhino.
There is a Sewage Treatment Plant on this cruise so that no sewage flows into the Ganga, as well as a filtration plant which purifies the Ganga water for bathing and other purposes.
Swiss tourists to experience inaugural sail
Somewhat incongruently, the inaugural sail of a cruise which showcases Bharat’s rich spiritual, cultural and physical diversity will have only European tourists. 32 Swiss tourists will be part of the inaugural sail of ‘MV Ganga Vilas’.
Joint director tourism Priti Srivastava said, “The MV Ganga Vilas has reached Varanasi and docked at Ramnagar port. The group of 32 Swiss tourists will board the cruise on January 13. This will be a chartered cruise, booked by a Switzerland-based company for Swiss tourists and there will be no Indian tourist on it.”
For an inaugural cruise that aims to reconnect tourists with Bharat’s ancient heritage, it would have been apt to have Bharatiyas soak in the experience first. The government seems to have missed a trick in letting a Swiss company charter the entire cruise. Whether Bharat’s Anglicized elites understand the value of the unique experience being offered by MV Ganga Vilas, is also a question worth pondering.
(With IANS inputs)
