Varanasi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Tent City built on the banks of the River Ganga in Varanasi on Friday via video conferencing, booking for the city developed on the sandy banks of Ganga also began. The project has been developed opposite city ghats, which will provide accommodation facilities and cater to the increased tourist influx in Varanasi, especially since the inauguration of Kashi Vishwanath Dham. It has been developed by Varanasi Development Authority.
The tourists will reach the Tent City by boats from different Ghats situated in the vicinity. The Tent City will be operational from October to June every year and will be dismantled for three months due to the rise in river water level in the rainy season. Tourists willing to stay in the Tent City have to spend between Rs 6,000 to 30,000 and booking can be done through the official website of Ten City Varanasi. The Varanasi Tent City project offers four types of facilities --Deluxe AC Tent, Premium AC Tent, Kashi Suite, and Ganga Darshan Villa. While the Deluxe AC Tent is the most pocket friendly of the lot, Ganga Darshan Villa is the most luxurious. Details of the Kashi Suite are not made available on the website yet.
The Deluxe AC Double Sharing Tent (Bed and Breakfast) starts at Rs 6,000. The Premium AC Double Sharing Tent (Bed and Breakfast) was available for booking for certain days at Rs 13,000 while the Ganga Darshan Double Sharing Villa (Bed and Breakfast) was available at Rs 30,000. For now, 70 per cent of the bookings are made by Indians while 30 per cent are foreigners. Abhishek Bhattacharya, director of Nirvana Tent, said, "At present, 125 tents are available for accommodation and all are booked till January 15. We have a maximum number of booking from the southern part of India, followed by tourists from Mumbai, Gujarat and Lucknow."
