Our Bureau/ Raja Bose

Bhagalpur, which is glorious in the pages of history of the past, is going to have a great opportunity again.

Special tourists of the Government of India who are coming from abroad to see the sights  having historical significances in  India, scheduled to visit The historic Sultanganj and Vikramshila Buddha Mahavihara at Bhagalpur.

The foreign tourists would arrive first at Sultanganj and then at Vikramshila in Kahalgoan sub-division of Bhagalpur in the third week of January 2024 by the cruise ship, MV Ganga Vilas which recently flagged off by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi at Varanasi.

On January 13, Modi flagged off the Ganga river cruise from Varanasi, his Parliamentary constituency. The 51-day cruise, being pitched as the world’s longest river cruise, is expected to reach its final destination — Dibrugarh in Assam — on March 1.

The majistic Ganga Vilas.

Set to sail from Varanasi, the cruise ship, MV Ganga Vilas, will cover 3,200 km over 51 days, crossing 27 river systems and several states before ending its journey at Dibrugarh. The voyage is packed with visits to 50 tourist spots, including World Heritage spots, national parks, river ghats, and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Guwahati in Assam.

Ganga Vilas river cruise is a living example of the development of inland waterways in the country. Modi added that the work is being done on the development of 111 national water highways across 24 States. The prime minister also inaugurated the Tent City at Varanasi and laid the foundation stones for several other inland waterways projects worth more than Rs 1,000 crore on Friday virtually.

For a day on the cruise, one has to spend Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000. The total cost for the entire trip will be around Rs 20 lakh for each passenger. The luxury cruise has three decks, 18 suites on board with a capacity of 36 tourists, with all the amenities. In the present trip, all the tourists are from Switzerland, sources said.

Historial Sultanganj in Bhagalpur.

The cruise will cover 50 tourist destinations including world heritage sites, national parks, river ghats, and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Shahiganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Guwahati in Assam. The cruise will start from Varanasi and then travel to Patna, Sahibganj, Kolkata, Dhaka, Guwahati, and Dibrugarh.

It will make pit-stops to cover the famous Ganga Arti in Varanasi, the Buddhist site of Sarnath; and even Majuli, the largest river island in Assam. The tourists will also visit the Bihar School Of Yoga and the half-excavated site of ancient seat of learning, Vikramshila Buddha Mahavihara. The cruise will traverse through the Sunderbans in the Bay of Bengal delta, as well as the Kaziranga National Park.

The news of arrival of the special cruise with foreign tourists has generated hopes among many here who want the revival of the neglected historical heritages like Vikramshila Mahavihara in the tourism map of India. Expert concerned hoped that such frequent visit of foreign tourist would help to wake up the government and union  ministry of tourism from its slumber and to take appropriate measures like inclusion of  half-excavated ruins of Vikramshila Mahavihara into Buddhist Circuit in India.

The runis of Vikramshila Buddha Mahavihara.

“Vikramshila is neglected on nation platform for many years but now hopes are once again raised after international tourists activity will take place in this region,” pointed out Shiv Shanker Singh Parijat, former official of Bihar government and a well-known expert in regional history.

It is to be mentioned here that recently last month Pandwa cruise crossed Bhagalpur and stopped at Vikramshila locality. Many  foreign tourists on  board Pandwa cruise had the privilege to visit the ancient world University. “Many tourists expressed utter surprised on the failure of Indian government to develop Vikramshila as an ideal tourist destination.  Some of them even blamed the government for its indifferent attitude to Vikramshila,” recalled Pradeep Kumar, a social activist at Kahalgaon.

MV Ganga Vilas with all modern facelities for the tourists.

“Ganga Vilas is India’s first longest waterways tourism project which also apparently happens to be the longest river cruise , has already embarked on its journey from Varanasi to Dibrugarh. Many foreign tourists are expected to visit such heritage sites frequently. But we have to exploit their visit for the revival and restoration of the glory of such places. Hope some of them might take up the cases of such neglected places and would help to hammer the government,” said Rajiv Siddharth, president of Press Club of Eastern Bihar, a body of scribes.

“We hope Vikramshila and Sultanganj will showcased like never before and will be on the international tourism map , which will automatically boost up revenue generating opportunity as well as other positive socio-economic boost up for the areas surrounding these heritages sites,” lamented Ravi Shanker Choudhary, a teacher of history  at Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University.