Get Ready For Grand Opening Of ‘Garuda’, 1st Cruise Boat In Odisha’s Chilika Lake

Bhubaneswar: Get ready for an exciting, comfortable and enjoyable journey in Odisha’s Chilika Lake. The grand opening of ‘Garuda’, the super luxury houseboat, will be held at Barkul, Chilika, on Thursday (June 9). Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will inaugurate the first cruise boat.

The luxury houseboat, which has been indigenously designed, developed and manufactured at Barkul with an investment of more than Rs 3 crore, is an initiative of Vikas Eco Resorts. Tourists will be able to sail in the lake with ‘Garuda’ following the grand opening. The service will be initially available Panthaniwas at Barkul and later introduced at Satapada too, sources said.

The project was approved by Odisha Tourism through the single-window mechanism and received licences/legal authorizations from the Chilika Development Authority, Directorate of Ports and Inland Water Transport.

Director, Tourism, Sachin Jadhav mentioned this initiative during his detailed presentation on Odisha’s strategic advantages for cruise tourism – sea-based & river-based and steps taken by the state government to develop and promote this segment during the Cruise Tourism Conference in Mumbai on May 14-15.

There are two suite rooms and four premium rooms and bar-restaurant on the houseboat, besides an open-air lobby on the upper deck for meetings/conferences. There is also a small swimming pool for children.

Packages include overnight stay along with full board meals, activities and cruising covering different islands in Chilika.