The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi flagged off the World’s Longest River Cruise-MV Ganga Vilas and inaugurated the Tent City at Varanasi via video conferencing today. He also inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for several other inland waterways projects worth more than Rs. 1000 crores during the event.
In line with the Prime Minister’s endeavour to boost river cruise tourism, the huge untapped potential of river cruises will get unlocked with the launch of this service and it will herald a new age of river cruise tourism for India.
He pointed out that the longest river cruise from Kashi to Dibrugarh is being flagged off today which will bring to the fore, places of tourism in North India on the world tourism map. He said other projects being dedicated today in Varanasi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Assam worth 1000 crore will give a push to the tourism and employment potential in eastern India.
While addressing the tourists from foreign countries who are traveling on the maiden journey of the cruise, the Prime Minister said, “Today India has everything and a lot beyond your imagination.”
He further added that India can only be experienced from the heart as the nation has welcomed everyone with open hearts irrespective of region or religion, creed or country and welcomed tourists from all parts of the world.
Throwing light on the experience of the river cruise, the Prime Minister informed that it has something special for everyone. He added that those seeking spirituality will cover destinations like Kashi, Bodh Gaya, Vikramshila, Patna Sahib and Majuli, tourists looking out for a multinational cruise experience will get the opportunity to via Dhaka in Bangladesh, and those wanting to witness the natural diversity of India will cross through Sundarbans and the forests of Assam.
Coming back to the theme of development of eastern India, the Prime Minister said that today’s events will help in making eastern India a growth engine for Developed India. This connects Haldia multimodal terminal with Varanasi and is also connected with India Bangladesh protocol route and Northeast.
This also connects Kolkata port and Bangladesh. This will facilitate business from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal to Bangladesh.
