Cruise, steamer services in Prayagraj before Mahakumbh-2025

So far, only VVIPs coming to Sangam could avail steamer or motorboat service provided by the district administration

If all goes as per the plan, pilgrims and tourists arriving in Prayagraj for once-in-12-year Mahakumbh to be held in 2025 would be able to avail mini-cruise services akin to the one available in Varanasi and also tour sites located on the riverbank on steamers and motorboats. So far, only VVIPs coming to Sangam could avail steamer or motorboat service provided by the district administration.

Boats plying on Sangam waters in Prayagraj. (HT file)

“The plan is to begin these services on a trial basis from Magh mela-2024 itself so that any shortcomings in them can be removed well before the Mahakumbh-2025,” said a senior district administration official aware of the move. These services would be a major attraction for the pilgrims and tourists who would arrive here from all over the world, he added.

Confirming the development, officer in-charge of Inland Waterways Authority of India, Prayagraj, Ashok Kumar said the central government has already made around ₹14 crore available to the state tourism department in this regard.

“Two jetties (structures that project from land out into water to allow boats/ships to dock along it) will be constructed for this. One jetty would come up between the new and the old Yamuna bridges near Prayagraj Boat Club while the other would come up at Arail or Lawayan Kalan. Both the places would also be developed as picnic spots,” he added.

Kumar said the state tourism department had entrusted the task of constructing the jetties to central public works department (CPWD) and that tenders for it had already been invited.

The two floating jetties have been proposed as two-storey structures which would each have changing and waiting rooms besides toilets and a designated parking spot. Each the two would be 35-feet long and 8-feet wide allowing people to embark and disembark from a boat/steamer, officials said.

The plan is to earmark separate routes for both the steamer and the cruise services on the Ganga and the Yamuna for which a survey has already been completed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India.