Delhi has launched its first recreational river cruise on the Yamuna, with a 30-seater electric catamaran carrying passengers from Sonia Vihar to Jagatpur for Rs 500 a ticket. The cruise set sail on Tuesday, November 10, and the 40-minute journey is already being talked about as one of the city’s most unusual new attractions.
The launch comes as Delhi’s air slowly improves after Diwali, with the city’s average AQI easing to 299 on Tuesday — still “very poor”, but down from 344 on Monday. The cruise offers a view of the river that most Delhi residents have never seen from the water.
A river with a reputation
The Yamuna is one of India’s most polluted rivers, and the idea of a pleasure cruise on it has raised eyebrows as well as excitement. The electric catamaran is designed to run cleanly, and the route from Sonia Vihar to Jagatpur takes in a stretch of the river that is being cleaned up as part of a wider riverfront programme.
For Rs 500 — about the price of a cinema ticket in the city — passengers get a 40-minute ride on a boat that would have been unthinkable on the Yamuna a few years ago. Whether the cruise becomes a lasting attraction or a short-lived novelty will depend on the river itself.
A city reimagining its river
Delhi’s first Yamuna cruise is part of a wider push to reclaim the river as a public space rather than a drain. Similar riverfront projects in other Indian cities have turned neglected waterways into evening destinations, and Delhi’s planners will be watching the ticket sales closely.
For now, the cruise is a curiosity with a queue. Passengers are booking to say they were on the first boat — and to see the Yamuna from a seat on the water, rather than from a bridge above it.
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