Ganga Vilas Cruise not stuck in Bihar, cruise docked for tourists to explore shoreline

Chhapra (Bihar) [India], January 16 (ANI): The flagship Ganga Vilas Cruise, which was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, reached Patna as per schedule and is not stuck in Chhapra, stated Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) on Monday.

Chairman, IWAI, Sanjay Bandopadhyaya said the vessel, MV Ganga Vilas, will continue its onwards journey as per schedule. “The Ganga Villas reached Patna as per schedule. There is absolutely no truth in the news that the vessel is stuck in Chhapra. The vessel will continue its onwards journey as per schedule” IWAI said in a tweet quoting Bandopadhyaya.

Chhapra’s CO Satendra Singh said local journalists earlier misquoted him.
“Local journalists have misquoted me, I just said SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) boats were at the spot as a precautionary move. There is no obstacle of any kind,” Singh told ANI.

He said that the SDRF boats were provided “by the district authorities” as a routine precautionary measure.

The operators of the vessel also said that it is not stuck and technically can’t go to the shore.

“(Where) river is not deep, you have to use shallow boats to get off and on to see the site. The main ship stays in the main channel where there is water. This is what happened here. It is the norm. This is the normal thing,” Raj Singh, Chairman, Exotic Heritage Group, told ANI.

The operators also said the ship with its clients is running as per schedule and is anchored in Patna and will sail after sightseeing.

They said that technically the small boats are required to take the guests to the shore. “We have the same arrangement for the Sundarbans and rest of West Bengal too. This has been the plan all along. Yes, if the ship comes to the shore it may get stuck and hence to avoid the situation we use local boats which also provides some income locally.”

PM Modi had flagged off the world’s longest river cruise – MV Ganga Vilas – via video conferencing on January 13.

The luxury triple-deck cruise is on its way from Varanasi to Dibrugarh in Assam. The cruise has a capacity of 80 passengers with 18 suits.

This cruise has an adventurous journey for 51 days and pass through Bangladesh for 15 days.

Following this, it will go to Dibrugarh through the Brahmaputra River in Assam.
The vessel will cover a distance of more than 3,200 km and pass through five states in India and Bangladesh.

It will pass through a total of 27 river systems of UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Bangladesh, and Assam.

The cruise will pass through three major rivers Ganga, Meghna, and Brahmaputra.
It will enter the Bhagirathi, Hooghly, Bidyavati, Malata, and Sundarbans river systems in Bengal.

In Bangladesh, it will pass through Meghna, Padma, and Jamuna in Bangladesh and then enter the Brahmaputra in Assam.

The cruise has been planned with visits to 50 tourist spots including World Heritage Sights, National Parks, river Ghats, and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Guwahati in Assam.