MV Ganga Vilas the river cruise which took off from Varanasi, docked at a Kolkata jetty for the last two days, left for Sundarbans, a UNESCO heritage site on January 30th, an official said. The cruise vessel, flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 13, entered West Bengal early this week through Murshidabad and later reached Kolkata, he said. The ship has been docked at the Indenture Memorial (IM) Jetty on the bank of the Hooghly river.

The vessel left Kolkata on January 30th and then it will be anchored at Sundarbans, one of the largest mangrove forests in the world and a UNESCO world heritage site, for two days," the official said.

Taking to Twitter, Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, "The next phase of the journey of MV GangaVilas will be on the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route, as it travels through Bangladesh to reach Assam. All infra has been provided at IM Jetty in Kolkatta for a smooth immigration process for passengers."

MV Ganga Vilas began its journey from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on January 13 and would travel around 3,200 km in 51 days to reach Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh, sailing across 27 river systems in India and the neighboring country. From the eastern Uttar Pradesh town of Varanasi the cruise moved to Patna in Bihar and reached Kolkata through Jharkhand.

Tourists, who are travelling on the maiden journey of the cruise, had a visit to Kumartuli, an idol-making hub in Kolkata on Saturday. "A city tour was planned for the passengers so that they can experience local culture," the official added.