Indian cruise vessel MV Ganga Vilas with tourists at Mongla Port

Indian cruise vessel MV Ganga Vilas with tourists at Mongla Port

Jehangir Hussain 

BAGERHAT, Feb 4: Indian cruise vessel, MV Ganga Vilas with tourists arrived at Mongla Port, Bagerhat on Saturday.

State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury and Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Pranay Verma welcomed the tourists.

The vessel had left Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, on January 13 for the 51-day cruise, the world’s longest and arrived Mongla Port via Diburgarh, Assam, India.

Half the journey was through Bangladesh territory.

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said that the ties between Bangladesh and India, forged 50 years ago on the sacrifices made during the War of Independence, has reached a new height during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s tenure.

“The ties in trade, culture and education are very good now. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi  visited Bangladesh several times during Sheikh Hasina’s tenure including amidst the pandemic,” he said.

The arrival of the Ganga Vilas, he said, took the ties to a new peak not only between Bangladesh and India but also between Bangladesh and the western countries.

Pranay Verma described the arrival of the cruise vessel as a historic development demonstrating the power of rivers to connect the peoples of India and Bangladesh.

He hoped that the cruise would unlock the potentials  of ecotourism between India and Bangladesh, including to the Sundarbans.

Swiss tourist Hans Kouf Mann, Shipping Ministry Secretary Mostafa Kamal, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Chairman Commodore Golam Sadek and Mongla Port Chairman Rear Admiral Mir Ershad Ali spoke among others.

BIWTA will provide assistance to the cruise ship  during its visit to various places in Bangladesh,  including ensuring navigability through the protocol route, berthing facilities and voyage permission.

The Home Ministry will ensure security.

The cruise ship will leave Bangladesh on February 17.

The MV Ganga Vilas’s cruise itinerary includes World Heritage Sites, National Parks, and River Ghats to key cities, Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Guwahati in Assam. Over fifty destinations will be visited during the 51-day cruise.

The tourists will visit the UNESCO heritage site of the 60-domed Shatgambud Mosque at Bagerhat. 

The cruise provided a unique opportunity to study the natural diversity and rich culture of Bangladesh, said tourists.

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