The world’s longest river cruise of 4,000 km will depart from Varanasi in January

The 50-day cruise will depart from Varanasi on January 10 and cover a distance of 4,000 km, passing through Kolkata and Dhaka before reaching Bogibeel in Assam’s Dibrugarh district on March 1.

“Ganga Vilas Cruise will cover 27 river systems from Varanasi to Dibrugarh in the longest river journey of 50 days and will visit more than 50 tourist sites including World Heritage Sites. This will be the largest river cruise by a river ship in the world and will put both India and Bangladesh on the river cruise map of the world,” said Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, in an interview.

He said that development of coastal and river shipping including cruise services is one of the priorities of the government and more such services would be launched to tap the vast potential of the country in this sector. “Besides boosting passenger traffic on the rivers, the development of inland waterway systems will also facilitate trade and cargo services and boost tourism in the areas around its route,” the minister said.

The Varanasi-Dibrugarh cruise is expected to run on the PPP model, with the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) signed between Antara Luxury River Cruises and JM Baksi River Cruises to run the first set of cruise liners.

The operators will fix the ticket price on a cost-plus basis without the intervention of the Centre.

“Cruises are of different types—luxuries, expeditions, etc. Tourists also come with different mindsets—some want to stay for the entire trip while some can travel from one point to another. Besides, with the amendment in the Indian Vessel Act, there will be a national permit for cruise lines to move seamlessly across states,” Sonowal said.

The cruise will cover a distance of around 1,100 km in Bangladesh before re-entering India. This will be done through the India-Bangladesh Protocol Route, which has already opened up trade and transit channels between the two countries and connects the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers.

Ganga Vilas Cruise will start its journey in Varanasi and will reach Patna on the 8th day passing through Buxar, Ramnagar and Ghazipur.

From Patna it will reach Kolkata on the 20th day. It will leave Bali the next day to enter Bangladesh and will remain in the neighboring country for 15 days before re-entering India and reaching Bogibeel (Dibrugarh) 31 days later, starting from Kolkata.

To be sure, river cruises are already operating on National Waterway 1 (NW-1) (Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly), NW-2 (Brahmaputra) and NW-3 (West Coast Canal).

subhash.narayan@livemint.com