Ganga aarti may resume in 15 days, says DM Sanjay Kumar Agarwal

PATNA: Gandhi Ghat behind NIT-Patna continues to wear a deadly silence even after three months of Makar Sankranti boat tragedy, which claimed 24 lives. Neither the two vessels of

Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation

(BSTDC) -- MV Ganga Vihar and MV Kautilya Vihar — are being operated nor

Ganga aarti

is being held on weekends.

Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said the BSTDC has been asked to provide certain basic infrastructure at Gandhi Ghat for resuming Ganga aarti. “We have asked BSTDC to provide railings, sufficient lighting, power backup, rescue divers and rescue boats at Gandhi Ghat to ensure crowd management during Ganga aarti. The BSTDC is working on the suggested measures and we expect the aarti to resume in 15 days,” Agarwal told TOI on Friday.

Ganga aarti used to be held on Saturday and Sunday evenings at Gandhi Ghat. It used to be held from 6pm in summer and 5pm in winter. Patna DM said private boats would also remain prohibited during the aarti.

Agarwal, however, said the district administration has no objection over the operation of MV Ganga Vihar and MV Kautilya Vihar. But BSTDC officials refused to make any comment on why the two vessels are not being operated for the last three months.

“I would have to check the matter,” said P C Ray, director general manager at BSTDC. Its MD

Keshav Ranjan Prasad

was unavailable for comment.

Incidentally, MV Kautilya Vihar and CL Kasturba of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) were used to ferry people from Gandhi Ghat to Sabbalpur Diara for the kite festival on January 14. Sources, however, said the two ships stopped operating from around 4pm, following which there was chaos among people to return from the sandbar, which eventually led to overcrowding on a country boat, which capsized soon after leaving the sandbar.

MV Kautilya Vihar was added to the BSTDC fleet in June last year. The 30-seat vessel has been manufactured by a Kolkata- based firm with an estimated outlay of Rs25 lakh, but it does not have a restaurant like MV Ganga Vihar.

BSTDC has been running MV Ganga Vihar, a floating restaurant, between Gandhi Ghat and Gai Ghat since July 21, 2009. The airconditioned restaurant has the seating capacity for 48 people and 15 more chairs are kept on its roof. The food served in the restaurant is brought from Bhagirathi Vihar located at Gandhi Ghat. The menu pricing varies in the range of Rs350 to 650.

The hourlong pleasure trip on both vessels takes the visitors from Gandhi Ghat to the Collectorate Ghat on the upstream journey. In the downstream journey, the ships cross Gandhi Setu and go up to the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) jetty, Gai Ghat and then return to Gandhi Ghat.