The Bihar State Tourism Development of Corporation (BSTDC) will soon be signing a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Assam-based Assam Bengal Navigation (ABN) for launching a river cruise in the Ganga from Kolkata to Patna. The cruise which will have a capacity to accommodate up to 24 tourists is expected to be operational during festive season starting October. ABN, an Indo-British joint venture, is considered as a pioneer in long-distance river in India and was the first to run cruises on the River Hugli, West Bengal.
The river cruise will be equipped with12 cabins double bed (A/C) rooms, open deck, dining hall, bar, restaurant, massage centre, big hall and emergency medical facilities and have 6-day stoppages in Bihar including Rajmahal, Bateshwarsthan, Sultanganj, Munger, Simariaghat and Patna.
Last year, BSTDC had launched the first ever 10-day cruise on Kolkata-Varanasi mainly for foreigners which was a roaring success. “Till date, the cruise has already made eight trips in which over 450 foreign tourists travelled on this route. In view of the overwhelming response, we have decided to launch another river cruise on the Ganga for domestic as well as foreigners at a low cost,” said Bihar principal tourism secretary Rashmi Verma.
