MV Ganga Vilas cruise ship reaches Assam on Friday
Guwahati (PTI): Touted as the world's longest river cruise, MV Ganga Vilas, reached Assam on Friday after passing through neighbouring Bangladesh.
The vessel crossed the zero point in Dhubri along the India-Bangladesh border, and will continue its onward journey to reach Dibrugarh at the eastern tip of the state on March 1, an official statement said.
MV Ganga Vilas is scheduled to travel 13 days in Assam and will halt at Dhubri, Jogighopa, Pandu (Guwahati), Kaziranga and Majuli before the culmination of the journey at Dibrugarh.
The luxury cruise was planned to cover a distance of more than 3,200 km across 27 river systems in five states in India and Bangladesh.
The vessel has already traversed through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh, the statement said.
The maiden journey of MV Ganga Vilas, flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on January 13, has been curated to showcase the rich heritage of India with stopovers in spots of historical, cultural and religious importance.
The famous 'Ganga arti' in Varanasi and Sarnath, a place of great reverence for Buddhism, Sundarbans, a Unesco world heritage site in West Bengal, Mayong, known for its Tantric craft, and Majuli, the largest river island and hub of Vaishnavite culture in Assam, are among places that MV Ganga Vilas' tourists could experience.
Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had earlier said that the vessel would carry 32 tourists from Switzerland and 14 of them would disembark at Kolkata with an equal number of boarding again for the onward journey to Dibrugarh, from where they will fly back to New Delhi.
Another set of 32 tourists from the same country will board the ship on their way to Varanasi, he had said.
Sonowal had also said the MV Ganga Vilas would herald a new age of river cruise tourism in India.
The global river cruise market has grown at 5 per cent over the last few years and is expected to constitute 37 per cent of the cruise market by 2027, according to an estimate.
Europe has been driving growth with around 60 per cent share of river cruise vessels in the world.
In India, eight river cruise ships are operational between Kolkata and Varanasi, while cruise movement is also operational on the Brahmaputra river.
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Anura Dissanayake wins Sri Lanka's presidential election
Colombo (PTI): Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Sunday was declared winner of the Sri Lankan presidential election by the country's Election Commission after an unprecedented second round of counting of votes.
Dissanayake, 56, the leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party's broader front National People’s Power (NPP), defeated his closest rival Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB).
Incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe was eliminated in the first round after he failed to become within the top two in the vote list.
NPP said Dissanayake will take oath on Monday.
Earlier, the Election Commission ordered a second round of counting after no candidate secured over 50 per cent votes needed to be declared the winner of Saturday's election.
Dissanayake will be the country's 9th president.
No election in Sri Lanka has ever progressed to the second round of counting, as single candidates have always emerged as clear winners based on first-preference votes.
