Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday virtually inaugurated the ‘Akshar River Cruise’ at Sabarmati Riverfront in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad.
‘Akshar River Cruise is a floating restaurant and has been a joint venture of Akshar Travels, Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC), and Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation. A 162-capacity cruise will take the passengers on a one and half hour journey with a meal. A floating restaurant has a sprinkler facility against fire, a lifeboat, life jackets, and other facilities for safety.
In his address, Amit Shah said that the Sabarmati Riverfront has become the soul of social and cultural activities in Ahmedabad.
“As the then Gujarat chief minister, Prime Minister Modi for the first time imagined a riverfront and planned for it, and it was constructed during his tenure (as CM). Now, it has become known not just in Ahmedabad but also across the country and abroad,” Shah said while addressing the gathering through video conferencing.
Shah said that this cruise, which is 30 meters long and 10 meters wide, will also have facilities like food, music, fire safety and security aspects have also been taken into consideration. After Science City, Riverfront, Bio Diversity Park, Flower Park, Gandhi Ashram will also be redeveloped in Ahmedabad city. At the same time, work is being done to make the state a sports hub, which will directly benefit Gujarat in terms of employment and development.
As many as 150 people including crew members will be able to enjoy the journey simultaneously on this cruise ship. This river cruise will be open to the public from July 10. Sabarmati will run from Uttlebridge to Dadichibridge on the riverfront. We are telling about the charge, route, travel time and what facilities will be available for this cruise ship.
He also noted that a floating restaurant has a sprinkler facility against fire, a lifeboat, life jackets, and other facilities for safety.
Shah further lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying when the latter was the chief minister of Gujarat, he took many initiatives which helped in increasing the tourist footfall in the state.
Ahmedabad-based company Akshay Travels Pvt Ltd will operate the river cruises. The company will pay an annual charge of Rs 45 lakh to SRFDCL for operating the cruise. The assembly of the cruise has taken place near the riverfront and the project has cost around Rs 15 crore.
(With inputs from ANI)
