World’s largest river cruise to start from Varanasi from next year

The Inland Waterways Ministry has put in place a project to launch the world’s largest luxury river cruise from Varanasi and Dibrugarh covering Ganga Brahmaputra besides the Indo Bangladesh protocol route

The 50-day cruise will sail from Varanasi to Dibrugarh through Bangladesh next year.

The cruise will set sail on January 10 from Varanasi and pass-through Kolkata and Dhaka, covering 4,000 km before reaching Bogibeel in Assam on March 1.

The cruise is the first set of cruise liners that will run on a PPP model with the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Antara Luxury River Cruises and JM Baxi River Cruises.

The ticket price will be decided by the operators of the cruise without an intervention from the Centre. The cruise will cover almost 1,100 km in Bangladesh before re-entering India. It will complete its sail via the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route.