Catamaran services to return to Kolkata after a decade

ISKCON plans to revive the catamaran services in Kolkata after a decade - it plans to tie up with a city-based river cruise operator, and cater to spiritual tourism from Kolkata to Mayapur which is the global headquarters of ISKCON in Nadia - and Sagar - which is the pilgrim spot of lakhs of Hindus.
The catamaran service is expected to start just after the Puja and, in case it turns out to be viable, more vessels would be added. The journey time would be three-and-half-hours and three hours to reach Gangasagar and Mayapur, respectively.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 27 August 2016.

It may be recalled that the industrial group DCL had introduced catamaran service in Kolkata to ferry passengers to and from Kolkata and Haldia but, due to lack of enough high-end passengers it was closed down. However, the new setup is confident of the viability of Catamaran services. The cost of each upstream or downstream trip to each destination would be pegged at Rs 3,000-3,500 per person. The boats can hit a top speed of 58 mph, or 93 km/hr.
Moreover, there are possibilities of using the catamarans for tourism purpose. These can make about 30 stopovers along different ghats and the government has plans to set up holiday cottages along the route to provide accommodation to tourists. The state government is believed to be developing about 50 jetties where the catamaran will stop over.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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