The river cruise from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh, billed as the world’s longest, will be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 13.
The luxury cruise with foreign tourists will cover 27 river systems including Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly, Brahmaputra and West Coast Canal in India in a span of 48 days.
“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,” Modi said while launching multiple projects for West Bengal through video-conferencing on Friday. He also announced that the cruise will start its first voyage on January 13, covering total of 3200 kms . The cruise will cover 50 major tourist sites, including some heritage sites, the famous Ganga Aarti at Varanasi and sanctuaries such as Kaziranga National Park and the Sundarbans Delta. The cruise will travel 1,100 km in Bangladesh. Will reach to Dibrugard (Assam) Covering the total of 48 Days.
Recently, shipping and waterways minister Sarbananda Sonowal had said that the development of coastal and river shipping, including cruise services, is one of the top priorities of the government.