The government proposes to launch the world’s longest luxury river cruise—from Varanasi to Dibrugarh via Bangladesh— next year in what it hopes will give a push to inland waterways development in India.

“Ganga Vilas cruise will sail from Varanasi to Dibrugarh in a longest river journey of 50 days covering 27 river systems and visit over 50 tourist sites including World Heritage Sites.

• This will be the single largest river journey by a single river ship in the world and would put both India and Bangladesh on the river cruise map of the world,
• The 50-day cruise will set sail from Varanasi on 10 January and cover 4,000 km, passing through Kolkata and Dhaka before reaching Bogibeel in Dibrugarh district of Assam on 1 March.