In Kashi of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tourists will soon have the facility to take an attractive sightseeing cruise. Cruise has left from Goa to promote tourism here. Rajkumar, Secretary of Defense Products in the Government of India, flagged off the cruise from Goa Shipyard to Benares. Project manager Ramvijay Singh said that the cruise will travel about 6000 km and reach Banaras on 20 December. During this time, after coming from Goa to Kerala, Chennai, Bengal and then Haldia, it will reach Banaras via Ganga.
Two teams of crew members will also accompany the cruise. The project manager said that from 10.71 crores, this cruise has been completed in two years. It will be operated under Ferry Ferry Passenger arrangement. The responsibility of operation will be with the tourism department. After coming here, the fare of the cruise will be fixed.
160 to 175 people will be able to travel together in this state-of-the-art cruise. It can be considered as the state-of-the-art form of Banarasi Barge. Like the barge, it has a seating arrangement at the bottom and top. The lower part with round chair seating arrangement will be air conditioned. The folding of this seating arrangement is another specialty. These can be removed and applied as required.
A lattice roof on the top of the cruise will be erected with four angels about nine feet diagonally. This part of the cruise will be open from all four sides. By sitting here, tourists will be able to feel the sight of the seven and a half kilometer long natural gallery of Kashi, sitting on the roof of the traditional barge.
There will be hightech cabin for cruise operations. This cabin will have a special screen on which the activities of the Ganga waves up to two kilometers away can be seen through the state-of-the-art high-definition camera. The tourism department has already written a letter to the government for its operation from the Tourism Corporation.
The corporation will also determine the rate for seating of tourists. It will be run from Assi Ghat located on the southern corner of Banaras to Rajghat on the northern corner. For this a jetty will be built at both the places. Together there will be a ticket counter. The cruise will have an audio system which will give detailed information about the Ghats of Benares.