New Delhi: On Wednesday, the Ganga Vilas river cruise reached Bangladesh’s Barisal region. On the jetty, local deputy commissioner Md. Zahangir Hossain greeted the cruise passengers with flowers. The old Oxford Church in Barisal will be visited by the cruise passengers from the jetty.
The MV Ganga Vilas arrived at a port in Kolkata on January 29 and departed on January 30 towards the Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The trip passed through the congested canals and rivers of the Sundarbans’ Harbaria.
According to a report in AIR news, it crossed the Sunderbans and arrived in Mongla port on February 4. There, it was greeted by the Bangladesh Minister for Shipping, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, and the High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi started off the 51-day river voyage on January 13 from Varanasi. According to the government, Ganga Vilas’ longest river cruise is anticipated to boost local economies and assist create jobs in the waterways’ hinterland. M/s. Antara River Cruise, a private operator, runs the Ganga Vilas Cruise service.
On January 13, 2023, Ganga Vilas virtually started off the longest river voyage from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, on National Waterway 1. (NW-1). The voyage is planned to arrive in Dibrugarh (Assam) on March 1st, 2023 via the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route, covering a distance of about 3200 km between NW-1 & 2.