The world’s longest river cruise ‘Ganga Vilas’ reached Guwahati with 28 Swiss tourists on board on Monday, 42 days after it had begun its journey from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The ship which is on its first voyage anchored at the Inland Waterways Authority of India's (IWAI) Pandu Port here with the Saraighat bridge as its backdrop.
The tourists were received by Additional Chief Secretary Maninder Singh, Kamrup Metro Deputy Commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha and IWAI Regional Director A Selvakumar, among others. After disembarking, the tourists were offered tea and treated to a colourful folk dance performance by troupes from the Karbi and Tiwa communities.
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The tourists from Switzerland will visit the famous Kamakhya Temple and the Assam State Museum on Tuesday morning, before leaving for their onward journey to Mayong in Morigaon district. Earlier in the day, the tourists visited Sualkuchi, the hub of Assam's textile and handloom industry, to witness the traditional muga and pat silks, unique to the state.
Flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the cruise had set sail from Varanasi on January 13, 2023, and, after traversing through the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal as well as Bangladesh, arrived at Dhubri in Assam on February 17.
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The voyage is scheduled to complete its journey by March one when it reaches Bogibeel in Assam’s Dibrugarh district. Earlier, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal had termed the arrival of the ship at Dhubri as a ‘watershed moment’ in the inland waterways transportation towards the transformation of Northeast India.
