Bhubaneswar: In a bid to give a big push to the tourism sector, which has huge potential to create job opportunity and enhance income of the people, the Odisha government is planning to kick off river cruises on selected water bodies under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
At a high level virtual meeting today, with experts and stakeholders, Odisha Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy directed the tourism department to start river cruises in the state.
There is a huge scope and latent market for world class river cruising in Odisha. It can also be connected with many eco-spots and accelerate the economic activities in the sector,” Tripathy said.
Tourism secretary Vishal Kumar Dev said that three principal river cruise circuits can be developed on the Mahanadi river, Chilika Lake and Dangmala reserve forest, including the national water way-5 from Dhamara to Paradip.
Bhitarkanika circuit in the Dangamala reserve forest with 5 nights and 6 days can connect destinations including Chandbali-Aradi-Dhamra-Khola with Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary famous for the estuarine crocodiles.
Chilika circuit with 3 night and 4 days can connect Chilika, Asia’s largest brackish water lake, Kalijai-Nalabana-Honeymoon island-Mangalajodi-Satapada-Rajhans island-Satapada and Puri.
Other administrative issues relating to various regulatory permissions, compliance with pollution norms, river jetties, and bar licences, among others, were also discussed in the meeting.