Assam: Ganga Vilas reaches Goalpara; tourists visit Asharikandi village in Dhubri

GUWAHATI: Ganga Vilas, the ship undergoing the world’s longest river cruise from Varanasi to Dibrugarh, reached Goalpara at 4.45 pm on Saturday.

MV Ganga Vilas, the world’s longest river cruise, arrived in Dhubri on February 17 after completing its journey through neighbouring Bangladesh.

The ship departed from the IWAI Dhubri terminal at 10:40 am before undertaking a 117- km journey to its next pit stop in Goalpara. The ship is anchored at Kachari Ghat in Goalpara until it sails Sunday morning for Sualkuchi. 

Ganga Vilas continues to be escorted by SL Subansiri and HPT Ambedkar for their journey from Dhubri up to Pandu. 

In Goalpara, the tourists visited the historic Surya Pahar, which is famous for its archaeological remains. The rock-cut sculpture of this site depicts deities of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, a rare combination. 

The foreign tourists spent the night at Ganga Vilas and on Saturday the grouping of foreigners visited Dhubri’s Asarikandi village, which is famous for its Terracotta artifacts in Gauripur.

The people of the Asharikandi village felicitated the foreign tourists with flowers, Assamese gamosa and accorded a warm welcome to each one of them by gifting a piece of clay products.

The tourists were thrilled to see the various items which are made of clay by the “Paul” community. The outlanders were emotionally tempted and expressed their satisfaction with the self-styled artifacts.

Martina, one of the Swiss travellers, said, “Keeping centuries-old tradition alive by the next generation is an impressive work. Making biodegradable glass and cups which will reduce the use of plastic is a great idea and I hope the biodegradable products further reach outside India.”

Later, the group of foreigners then visited the heritage ‘Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Gurudwara’ in Dhubri, where they were welcomed by “Siropa” a long orange colour scarf, which the Sikh community gifts in respect.

After that, the team visited the full-fledged life-size statue of Queen Victoria at Tetultala in Dhubri, which is made of Italian white marble stones and was installed by the British and gifted by France in the pre-Independence era.

Covering the heritage sites of Dhubri, MV Ganga Vilas continues its journey leaving Dhubri Port towards Pancharatna in Goalpara along with all tourists.

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