AFTER THE grand success of Alfresco, the North East’s first floating restaurant and SB Agam, the first fully air-conditioned luxury yacht; Brahmaputra Cruise Private Limited (BCPL) has come up with yet another unique product that is all set to redefine luxury cruise on the River Brahmaputra.
The product is a brainchild of Hemanta Doley, Shanti Doley and Devajit Kumar Borah, the promoters of BCPL and has been named MV Manashputra. It is a long distance three tiered fully air-conditioned river liner, 44metres in length and powered by three marine engines with all life saving devices on board. It has 14 luxury cabins to accommodate a maximum of 28 guests on a twin sharing basis. The main deck houses twelve guest cabins while the remaining two are located at the sundeck level. The river liner is equipped with a conference-hall, two party halls measuring 500 sq.ft, sundeck restaurant covering an area of 1400 square feet, private sundeck, bar cum restaurant and a fine dine restaurant. There will be various long and short duration packages from Guwahati to Dibrugarh in the upstream and Dibrugarh to Guwahati in the downstream voyage during the winter season covering places of tourist attraction like Mayong, Pabitora, Tezpur, Kaziranga National Park, Biswanath Ghat, Majuli Island, Jorhat and Sivasagar.
This new vessel built at a cost of Rs. 3 crore will fulfil the demands of the discerning tourists who want to experience the breath-taking natural beauty, the unique flora and fauna and cultural heritage of Assam, without missing out on the creature comforts. Regardless of the duration of the package, the cruise will offer the tourists a taste of rural, wildlife, cultural, tea and pilgrimage tourism which will ensure that they go back with fond memories that they will cherish for long. During the summer months, the river liner will be docked at its yard near Machkhowa and will offer three evening cruises- sunset cruise, sundown cruise and dinner cruise, with live performance by an established rock band. Arrangements would also be made for events like theme party, corporate meetings etc. According to Aslam Khan, General Manager, Marketing & Public Relations, BCPL, the vessel will provide direct employment to more than 40 local youths. It may not be out of place to mention that the promoters have been associated with the river Brahmaputra since 1992, when they started providing logistic support and vessels etc to organisations like Inland Water Authority of India, Minor Ports Survey Organisation (MPSO), Mumbai and RITES for activities like hydrographic survey and channel maintenance. They are hopeful that the blessings and support of the media fraternity, the love and patronage of the clients-both from India and abroad coupled with their vast experience and knowledge of the hospitality industry in general and river vessels in particular would enable them to promote Assam globally with renewed zeal and dedication through the medium of tourism.