The food plaza at Sabbalpur diara in Patna. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, April 11: A cruise on the Ganga on a moonlit night is simply delightful. The capital residents as well as the tourists visiting the city will be able to relish the inexplicable experience from this month, courtesy Bihar Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC).

The corporation is all set to launch special moonlit trips of its floating restaurant — MV Ganga Vihar — from April 17. Enthusiasts can cherish the trip on April 18 and 19 as well.

The corporation would conduct the special trips three days a month. The first cruise of a month would be in the evening before the full moon day. The rest would be in the evening of the full moon day and the next evening.

Tourism department principal secretary Deepak Kumar told The Telegraph: “We stand for promoting river tourism in the evening hours, as tourists coming to Patna have little option as far as utilising their evening hours is concerned.”

Each evening, 70 persons will be able to enjoy a trip on the Ganga. The tickets can be booked at the Gandhi Ghat and the tourism corporation office on Beer Chand Patel Path. One would have to shell out Rs 400 for the two-hour trip that will include a vegetarian dinner.

The trip would start from Gandhi Ghat at 8pm. The floating restaurant would be anchored for about half-an-hour in the middle of the river.

Deepak said if the department gets a good response to the initiative, it might add more features to the special package. One of the options available with the department is to add some musical programme during the trip.

The tourism department is also planning to promote eco-tourism on the Ganga and has sent a formal request to India’s Dolphin Man R.K. Sinha to chart out the details for launching a special package for those interested in watching Gangetic dolphins.

“As soon as the details are worked out, the department would launch this package as watching Gangetic dolphins in their natural habitat would certainly attract tourists,” Deepak said.

The department has also decided to go big with diara (riverine) tourism. A decision has been taken to introduce water sports at Sabbalpur diara from October this year. The principal secretary added: “We would provide speed boats and river bikes to promote water sports at the site.”

The department has set up a temporary food plaza for the visitors at the diara in January this year. People can enjoy a camel ride on the diara as well.

The department officials said the response to this move has been good. Around 100 tourists visit the food plaza daily.

As diara tourism cannot be carried out during monsoon as the sand bar disappears when the river’s water-level rises, the tourism department has set up a temporary structure and visitors can enjoy the package from October to May only.