Highlights:
- Prime Minister will flag off the cruise tomorrow.
- Tourists traveling in MV Ganga Vilas Cruise get acquainted with the importance of Mother Ganga and their responsibilities towards her.
- Ganga Vilas Cruise will cross Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bangladesh, and Assam in a journey of 51 days.
Ministry of Culture organised a grand curtain raiser cultural program today ‘Sur Sarita – Symphony of Ganga’ on the eve of the launch of the world’s longest river cruise at Varanasi. The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will flag off the cruise tomorrow on 13th January. Renowned singer Shankar Mahadevan lead the grand concert organised at the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor today and regaled the audiences with his beautiful renditions.
On the occasion the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways and AYUSH, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal said that the world’s longest river cruise is going to be launched with the inauguration of MV Ganga Vilas. This will create new history in the waterways sector of India and also mark the beginning of a new era of river cruise tourism.
On the occasion Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri Yogi Adityanath said that Kashi is going to launch itself for the new era with the help of river cruise. Kashi is known as the cultural and spiritual capital of the world and under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kashi has established itself on the global stage while maintaining its ancient soul. He also added that along with land and sky, Kashi is now going to be connected through waterways as well.
During the concert, other dignitaries including tourists traveling in Ganga Vilas Cruise got acquainted with the importance of Mother Ganga and their responsibilities towards her, along with enjoying the Sur Taranginis. This Sur Sandhya made one realize how Maa Ganga is revered as a Goddess for every Indian and for the entire humanity.
Ganga Vilas Cruise will cross Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bangladesh, and Assam in a journey of 51 days. These places have their own history of mythology and legends associated with the river. Keeping this in mind, songs for the concert were chosen from different states to give different flavours in this concert.
Folk musicians from Assam, Bihar and Bengal joined popular singer Shankar Mahadevan paid homage to the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Brahmaputra. The show, of about an hour, ended with Shankar Mahadevan’s rendition of ‘Kartavya Ganga’. ‘Kartavya Ganga’ promises the river goddess that every Indian will always take care of her. We all will do everything to protect her waters as she has always been protecting us. The river, and its everlasting relevance, was also showcased through an audio-visual presentation during the event.
In an another interesting event, National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), Kolkata under Ministry of Culture organised a Mobile Science Exhibition on Maa Gange: Arth Ganga from 12th January. The exhibition was flagged off from Varanasi before the concert. The exhibition is a tribute to the Ganga for public awareness about conservation and restoration of the holy river. The exhibition will travel in the districts/sites located near the river Ganges. In the exhibitions 18 panels are displayed including Tributaries of Ganga, Ganga and Dams, Sunderbans among others
Click here for complete list of Panels
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