E-Paper
New excitement in Varanasi as 3-day hot-air balloon fest begins
The opening session of the hot-air balloon festival saw five children from an orphanage, Covid-19 warriors, and locals taking a free balloon ride.
Varanasi, on Wednesday, was a vision of Albuquerque, the US city of New Mexico state, as 11 hot-air balloons took to the sky along the banks of the Ganga, as part of a three-day hot-air balloon show. Albuquerque holds an annual hot air balloon festival, and this year, in October, 600 balloons were in the sky at one point.
In the opening session of the show in Varanasi, five children from an orphanage, Covid-19 warriors, and locals took a free balloon ride, to experience the scenic views of Kashi from the sky, regional tourism officer, Kirtiman Srivastava said. Around 50 people took the balloon ride on the first day, he said.
The tourism department has fixed a price of Rs500 per ticket for flying in a balloon. The enthusiasm and excitement for this event can be gauged from the fact that all tickets were sold out within three hours, Srivastav said.
Some balloons have a capacity of five passengers, while others may carry eight passengers.
All balloons will take off under instruction from the Air Traffic Control, Varanasi, Srivastava added. The balloon will take off with ‘passengers’ and will go up in the air and land after 45 minutes, he said.
Four centres have been identified in the city for the balloons to take-off and land. These are Domri, CHS Sports Ground, BLW Sports Ground, and Sigra Stadium. The balloons will take off from one of these locations daily. From which location the balloons take off daily will depend upon the direction of the wind on that day.
This effort of the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department will make the city’s tourism famous internationally. This will not only give a boost to the tourism industry but also will increase the employment of local people, said Srivastava.
On the occasion of Dev Deepawali, devotees will get to see the beautiful ghats from the sky through tethered flights on the night of November 18 and 19.
