Prabhat Ranjan Deen
VARANASI, Jan 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today flagged off the World’s Longest River Cruise-MV Ganga Vilas and inaugurated the Tent City at Varanasi. The Prime Minister, who connected through video conferencing with the main program organized in Kashi, also inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for schemes worth more than Rs 1,000 crores.
In his address, the Prime Minister said, India is entering into a robust phase of tourism as with a growing global profile, curiosity about India is also increasing. He expressed his best wishes for the Lohri festival as well as other upcoming festivals such as Uttarayan, Makar Sankranti, Bihu, and Pongal. “These festivals are very important for our charity, faith, tap-tapasya and accomplishment of our resolutions. In this context, the role of our rivers is very important. This makes the projects related to river waterways all the more significant,” he added.
Modi noted that the longest river cruise from Kashi to Dibrugarh begins today, putting tourism destinations in North India on the global tourism map. With the tent city, tourists and devotees coming to Kashi now have an incredible means of accommodation.
The Prime Minister said that today the foundation stone of the elevated road connecting Haldia Multi Modal Terminal, Ship Repair Center and Water Way Terminal in Assam to the National Highway was laid and the Maritime Skill Center for North East was inaugurated in Guwahati. ‘These plans are going to expand the possibilities related to trade and tourism in Eastern India. New employment opportunities will be created through these,’ he said.
Pointing out the importance of river Ganga, the PM said, ‘the area around the banks lagged behind in development in the post-independence period thereby leading to a massive exodus of population from this area. To change this situation, we started working with a new approach.’
He added, on the one hand, the campaign to clean Ganga was undertaken through Namami Gange and Arth-Ganga was taken up on the other. “In Arth-Ganga steps have been taken to create an environment of economic dynamism in the states from where Ganga passes.’
The Prime Minister said that this cruise journey is going to bring many new experiences together. Those seeking spirituality will cover destinations like Kashi, Bodh Gaya, Vikramshila, Patna Sahib and Majuli, tourists looking out for a multinational cruise experience will get the opportunity to via Dhaka in Bangladesh, and those wanting to witness the natural diversity of India will cross through Sundarbans and the forests of Assam. Stating that the cruise will pass through 25 different river streams, the Prime Minister said that this cruise has significant importance for those who have a keen interest in understanding the river systems of India. He also mentioned that it is a golden opportunity for those who want to explore the myriad culinary and cuisines of India.
“This new phase of cruise tourism will also provide new employment and self-employment opportunities to our young colleagues in this field. It will be a center of attraction for foreign tourists. This is also a golden opportunity for domestic tourists, for which they used to go abroad earlier. We are making similar arrangements for cruise tourism in river waterways across the country,” he added.
The Prime Minister said that a robust phase of tourism is beginning in India. As the global acceptance of India is increasing, people are keen to know and witness India. In the last 8 years various steps were taken to expand the tourism sector in the country. Places of faith were developed on priority and Kashi is a live example of such efforts.
With improved facilities and the rejuvenation of Kashi Vishvanath Dham, Kashi has seen a huge increase in the number of visiting devotees. This has given a massive boost to the local economy, Modi said.
Asserting that the New Tent City, infused with modernity, spirituality and faith, will provide a novel experience to the tourists, the PM said, this decade of the 21st century is a decade of infrastructure transformation in India. India is witnessing a level of infrastructure which was unimaginable a few years ago. From Social infrastructure like houses, toilets, hospitals, electricity, water, cooking gas, educational institutes to digital infrastructure to physical connectivity infrastructure like railways, waterways, airways and roads, all these are strong indicators of the rapid growth of India. In all the fields India is seeing the best and biggest.
Underlining the situation of Waterways before 2014, the PM said, earlier, there was very little use of waterways in the country, whereas waterways have thousands of years of history in our country. Post 2014, India is harnessing this ancient strength to the cause of modern India. There is a new law and detailed action plan for developing waterways in big rivers of the country.
According to the Prime Minister, there were only five national waterways in the country in 2014; now, there are 111 national waterways in the country, with about two dozen already operational. Similarly, there has been a 3 time increase in cargo transportation via river waterways from 30 lakh metric tonnes 8 years ago. The Prime Minister said that today’s events will help in making eastern India a growth engine for Developed India. This connects Haldia multimodal terminal with Varanasi and is also connected with India Bangladesh protocol route and Northeast. This also connects Kolkata port and Bangladesh. This will facilitate business from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal to Bangladesh.
Ganga Vilas cruise, Tent City will usher a new era for Kashi: Yogi
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today referred to the launch of the Ganga Vilas Cruise as the start of a new era of tourism in Kashi.
During the inauguration of the River Cruise Yatra in Varanasi and the inauguration ceremony of the Tent City built across the Ganges, the CM said, ‘for all of us, today is a very significant day. In the last eight years, the entire world has witnessed how India is evolving, and today marks the beginning of Kashi’s new journey of possibilities.’
The world’s longest river cruise, inaugurated at the Ravidas Ghat, will travel a distance of 3200 kilometers from Kashi to Dibrugarh.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal were present at the event in Varanasi. In addition, the Chief Minister of Assam Hemant Biswa Sharma, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav, Union Minister of State Shripad Naik and Shantanu Thakur from Haldia also joined through a virtual medium. Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal gave the welcome speech.
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