MV Ganga Vilas will begin its journey from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and travel around 3,200 km in 51 days to reach Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh, sailing across 27 river systems in India and Bangladesh.
Tourists were welcomed to the tune of Shehnai and Dhobia dance as they arrived in Varanasi. After arriving in Babatpur, the Swiss guests were taken to the port at Ramnagar.
The cruise will cover a distance of nearly 4,000 km in 50 days. It will pass through the rivers of India and Bangladesh to reach Dibrugarh in Assam. It will have halts near important cities like Patna, Kolkata, and Dhaka.
Over 4,400 houses were damaged after a severe hailstorm hit four Upper Assam districts - Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo and Sivasagar on Tuesday affecting 132 villages.
The event was a part of the annual Orange Festival of Adventure and Music (OFAM), hosted at the quaint village of Dambuk on the banks of the Dibang river and in the foothills of the mighty Eastern Himalayas surrounding Arunachal Pradesh.
The prime accused in the Dibrugarh University ragging incident case Rahul Chetry has been sent to the police remand for five days, the police official said on Monday.