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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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
