JNS: Ganga Vilas, the longest river cruise in the world, arrived in Bangladeshi waters on Friday, 21 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent it off from Varanasi on January 13. Ganga Vilas is named after the river Ganga, which flows through Varanasi.
After passengers finished their afternoon immigration and customs procedures, the ship anchored at Antihara. The cruise will spend the night in Antihara, set sail early Saturday morning, and arrive in Mongla port in the afternoon.
High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Pranay Verma will welcome the tourists on their arrival at Mongla on Saturday. When the river cruise passengers arrive at Mongla, they will be met by several influential people from Bangladesh, including Khalid Mahmud, the state shipping minister. Later in the afternoon, the tourists will visit the UNESCO heritage site of the 60-domed mosque at Bagerhat.
The momentous visit of the cruise ship is being hailed as a significant step in realising the potential of tourism between the two countries, strengthening people-to-people ties and opening up new ways of connectivity between India and Bangladesh.
During its two-week-long passage through Bangladesh, the cruise ship will take the visitors to some of the most historic and heritage places of Bangladesh, including Sundarban, the world’s largest mangrove forest. Apart from Mongla and parts of the Sundarban, the cruise will cover Barisal, Tangail, Dhaka, Sirajganj and Rangpur before entering Dhubri in Assam on 16th February.
