If dreaming of a river cruise,then very soon you are going to explore the same with an exhilarating cruise journey from Kolkata to Guwahati via Bangladesh, that will come up soon from march next year.
In a historic movement India and Bangladesh has inked a pact to launch cruise service between Kolkata to Dhaka and use of Bangladeshi ports Chattogram and Mongla for goods service to and from India.Under PIWTT(Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade) both countries signed to include new ports, Dhubri in India and Pangaon in Bangladesh.
Leading cruise operator ‘Exotic Heritage Group’ which already has its services on river Ganga has booked this initial service for first five years.
Opportunity is widely open for Private players to operate the cruise line between the two countries.They are also endorsed to operate cruise service between Chennai to Cox Bazzar in Bangladesh.
Trade representatives from both countries will fix on the issues at a meeting in Kolkata on 3rd of December, said the Chairman of Inland Waterways Authority Pravir Pandey.The Shipping Secretary of Bangladesh Md.Abdus Samad also expressed his satisfaction over the progress in present talks.
The river cruise covering a distance of 1539 kilometre will go via Ganga in India (called Padma in Bangladesh), Jamuna in Sunderbans (Bangladesh) and the Brahmaputra in Assam (India). The cruise liner is likely to begin its journey from Kolkata and plying over protocol routes 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 to reach Dhaka via Sunderbans and enter Assam from Dhubri and end up at Guwahati.
This year on October 20,Union minister of shipping,GoI, Nitin Gadkari and Chief minister of Maharastra Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the first luxury cruise line of India which operates from Mumbai to Goa.
