India is set to launch its longest cruise service connecting Uttar Pradesh and Assam. The cruise, which will run from Varanasi to Bogibeel, will cover a distance of over 4,000 km across the Ganga, Brahmaputra and the Indo Bangladesh Protocol route (IBPR). The government feels the new route will help usher in new opportunities for the people of Assam and open up new inland waterways that aid connectivity and trade. Better inland waterways are essential for promoting tourism and aiding transportation of people and cargo in remote areas.?

Making the announcement, Shipping and waterways (MoPSW) minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the cruise will be operation next year. The minister also launched multiple development projects in Bogibeel and other parts of Assam. The service will usher in a novel opportunity for the people of Assam to use inland waterways for promoting their trade, tourism and for cargo transportation, he said on Monday, launching multiple projects for the development of the area in and around the Bogibeel bridge in Dibrugarh district.

According to reports, two floating jetties are being constructed at Dibrugarh’s Bogibeel and Guijan in Tinsukia district.

The cruise would be the latest in a string of connectivity and development projects in the northeast. National Waterways on the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers are also being developed to reduce travel costs to Bangladesh.?

As part of the centre’s push toward developing inland waterways in the North East. Region (NER), the Inland Waterways Authority of India is mandated to develop and maintain National Waterways-II on the Brahmaputra between Dhubri and Sadia. A number of investments are in the pipeline for NW-II.

Work is underway, for instance, on the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP) which links Aizawl with Myanmar’s Sittwe Port. The project combines an inland waterway and highway project connecting Mizoram with the Bay of Bengal deep seaport in Rakhine state, Myanmar. It aims to develop Sittwe to handle 20,000-ton vessels dredging the River Kaladan from Sittwe to Paletwa, a 158-km-long stretch; and constructing a 109-km-long road that connects Paletwa River terminal to Zorinpui on the Mizoram border, Myanmar.

?IWAI is also working to declare Barak river as National Waterways-VI.

(With inputs from PTI)