Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off world’s longest river cruise, MV Ganga Vilas, on January 13, 2023, via video conferencing. PM Modi will also inaugurate the Tent City at Varanasi and lay the foundation stones for several other inland waterways projects worth more than Rs 1000 crore during the event.
MV Ganga Vilas
MV Ganga Vilas will start from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and travel around 3,200 km in 51 days to reach Dibrugarh, Assam via Bangladesh, sailing across 27 river systems in India and Bangladesh. The maiden voyage has 32 tourists from Switzerland signing up for the entire length of the journey. In line with PM’s endeavour to boost river cruise tourism, the 51-day cruise is planned with visits to 50 tourist spots, 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.
Tent City at Varanasi
Conceptualised on the banks of the Ganga, the Tent City has been developed by Varanasi Development Authority in a PPP mode opposite to city ghats which will provide accommodation facilities and cater to the increased tourist influx in Varanasi, especially since the inauguration of Kashi Vishwanath Dham. The tent city will be operational from October to June every year.
Inland waterway projects
Modi will inaugurate the Haldia Multi Modal Terminal in West Bengal. Developed under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, Haldia Multi Modal Terminal has a cargo handling capacity of around over 3 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA). The berths are designed to handle vessels up to around 3000 deadweight tonnage.
