Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the MV Ganga Vilas luxury cruise on the world's longest river voyage from Varanasi to Dibrugarh on Friday.
The cruise measuring 62 metres in length and 12 metres in width has 3 decks, 18 suites for a total of 36 passengers. It will cover a distance of 3200km in 52 days.
The cruise will transverse through 27 different rivers throughout its voyage and will visit 50 tourist spots. It will halt at Patna, Kolkata and Guwahati.
The total investment in the MV Ganga Vilas luxury cruise is Rs 68 Cr.
Ticket to cost Rs 12.59 lakh for the trip
The ticket for the 51-day long journey costs up to a whooping amount of Rs 12.59 lakh. The per day amount will reduce to around Rs 24,962.25, according to Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. Tickets for the Ganga Vilas cruise can be booked via the Antara Cruises website, the company that operates the Ganga Vilas cruise.
PM flagged off Ganga Vilas cruise through video conferencing
Divisional Commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma earlier said, "The Prime Minister will flag off the Ganga Vilas cruise through video-conferencing and also inaugurate tent city on the bank of the Ganga on Friday."
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that Varanasi is famous as the cultural and spiritual capital of the world and under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kashi has established itself on the global stage while maintaining its ancient soul.
Grand function organised at Ravidas Ghat
A grand function was organised at Ravidas Ghat where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal along with other ministers and dignitaries were present.
Musical concert for the curtain-raiser
As curtain-raiser for the historical event, the Union Ministry of Culture hosted a grand musical concert, 'Sur Sarita - Symphony of Ganga', at the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor where renowned musician and singer Shankar Mahadevan enthralled the audience with his rendition 'Kartavya Ganga' on Thursday evening.
Folk musicians from Assam, Bihar and Bengal performed to pay homage to the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Brahmaputra.
A mobile science exhibition on Ganga, 'Arth Ganga', organised by the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), Kolkata under the Union Ministry of Culture, was also flagged off from Varanasi before the concert.
Other projects to be flagged off
Apart from flagging off the cruise and inaugurating the tent city, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate Haldia multi mod terminal in West Bengal, four floating community jetties at Saidpur, Chochakpur, Zamania in Ghazipur and at Kanspur in Ballia district. Besides, foundation stone will be laid for the five community jetties at Digha, Nakta Diyara, Barh, Panapur in Patna and Hasanpur in Samastipur district in Bihar by the Prime Minister.
He will also inaugurate Maritime Skill Development Centre for North East at Guwahati.
