India-Sri Lanka passenger ferry resumes after 30 years

[Roybot]

4 June 2011 Last updated at 07:06 GMT

First India-Sri Lanka passenger ferry for 30 years

The first passenger boat service between India and its close southern neighbour, Sri Lanka, in three decades has arrived in Colombo. Scotia Prince set off from the southern Indian port of Tuticorin on Monday evening and docked in Colombo harbour early Tuesday, a port official said.

The boat can carry more than 1,000 people. It has a bar, restaurant, casino and hospital.Ferries were suspended during the Sri Lankan civil war, which ended in 2009. After the Scotia Prince's maiden voyage, bringing invited VIPs, there will be about two crossings each way per week.

The old ferry service, which stopped 30 years ago, linked the Indian temple town of Rameshwaram to Mannar, a part of northern Sri Lanka heavily affected by the war. Officials say the ferries will be considerably cheaper than the planes that link Colombo with southern India - meaning less affluent people from both countries can now cross.

Expect more tourists from India

BBC News - First India-Sri Lanka passenger ferry for 30 years

 

[cybertron]

i've heard that srilanka is a lot similar to kerala in its demographics.
but i'd surely like to visit the country once and i hope it'd in this same cruise ship

 

[Skyline]

Yep, It arrived today!
2 trips a week and 100kg baggage allowed per person.

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The passengers have options of economy, deluxe, business, first and special cabins for the physically challenged. The fares are between Rs 2,243 for single berth, economy class, to Rs 2,760 for super deluxe single berth from Thoothukudi to Colombo. The Colombo-Thoothukudi leg is priced between Rs 2,760 and Rs 3,393 per berth.

“The tourism potential between India and Sri Lanka is tremendous and as the demand for cruise travel
in India is also increasing, we expect this ferry service to cater to the requirements of these two segments,” said Flemingo Liners CEO P.K. Thimmayya.

Nearly 1.27 lakh Indians visited Sri Lanka and 2.4 lakh Sri Lankans visited India in 2010.

source

 

[Galaxy]

Good for India-SL tourists.

 

[Lankan Ranger]

Suspend India Sri Lanka ferry service - Jayalalithaa

A day after a ferry service from Tuticorin to Colombo was flagged off, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa today asked the central government to suspend it, saying her government was not consulted on the move.

Submitting a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, copies of which were released to the media in Chennai, Jayalalithaa said the ferry service has been resumed at a most inopportune time. The service was suspended in 1983.

"The Tamil Nadu legislative assembly has recently passed a resolution urging the Government of India to initiate action by working with other nations for the imposition of an economic embargo on the Government of Sri Lanka, until the Tamils who are now living in camps are resettled in their own places and are allowed to live with dignity and with equal constitutional rights on par with the Sinhalese," the memorandum noted.

According to the memorandum, as the resolution was well accepted by the people of Tamil Nadu, resumption of the ferry service between Tuticorin and Colombo will not be advisable and it will be against the sentiments of the people.

Flagging of the ferry service Monday, union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan said the government is working on resuming the ferry service between Rameswaram and Talaimannar that was discontinued in the 1980s.

The ferry service will leave for Colombo on Mondays and Fridays while the return service from Colombo will be on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Suspend ferry service - Jayalalithaa | Breaking News

India is not TN; there are other states who warmly welcome Sri Lankan’s, especially Maharashtra.........

 

[Lankan Ranger]

After a gap of nearly three decades, the ferry service between India and Sri Lanka was restarted when ‘MV Scotia Prince’ which left Tuticorin yesterday afternoon reached the Colombo harbor this morning carrying nearly 400 passengers. The pictures show the MV Scotia Prince’ and its passengers after its arrival.

 

[kingkobra]

i am maharashtrian and i do wish to travel one day to srilanka by ferry...

 

[Skyline]

what about Chennai Airport? She can impose a ban on Sri Lankan Airlines too.

 

[Lankan Ranger]

what about Chennai Airport? She can impose a ban on Sri Lankan Airlines too.

Let's see.........

 

[Black Widow]

cummon lalitha, We are neighbors. How long we can stay like enemy?? Both of us (India and Lanka) did mistake in past. Let undo it. lets have good relation...

Lanka has very good place to visit...

And if you are really concerned bout Lankan Tamils, then form and NGO, and go to lanka, help them to improve there life. I don't think Srilanka will object ... Remember they are srilankan first then they are Tamils...

 

[samv]

Wow this lady is sounding crazier and crazier by the day (almost rabid)... must be something in the water.

If there were any politicians more retarded than Sri Lankan ones, they would have to be politicians from Tamil Nadu.

 

[samv]

India-Sri Lanka ferry Service will strengthen cultural ties - Indian HC

Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 10:13 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

June 14, Colombo: The passenger ferry service resumed between Tuticorin in India and Colombo in Sri Lanka after 30 years will boost tourism and trade and strengthen cultural ties between the two countries, the High Commissioner of India, Ahsok K. Kantha said.

Speaking at the ceremony organized at the passenger terminal at the Colombo Port to mark the occasion of the arrival of the passenger ferry Scotia Prince Tuesday morning, the High Commissioner said the arrival of ferry from Tuticorin represented a concrete outcome of the understanding between the leaders of the two countries.

Indian Union Minister of Shipping G.K. Vasan flagged off Scotia Prince yesterday at Tuticorin.

High Commissioner Kantha and Deputy Minister of Ports and Highways of Sri Lanka Rohitha Abeygunawardana inaugurated the ceremony at the passenger terminal in Colombo and visited the Scotia Prince, a press release from Indian High Commission in Colombo said.

The High Commissioner has said that it was a historic occasion for the two countries.

He has said that ferry services between the two countries were being resumed after about 30 years as a result of an understanding between the Prime Minister of India and the President of Sri Lanka in June 2010 when President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited India.

The two countries have agreed to start the ferry services between Colombo and Tuticorin and between Thalaimannar and Rameswaram in order to speedily restore the traditional links and connectivity between the two countries.

A Memorandum of Understanding had been signed between the two governments on 7 January 2011 to start the services.

The passenger ferry service between Thalaimannar and Rameswaram will commence once the requisite infrastructure is put in place on both sides, the High Commission said.

Sri Lanka : India calls for entries to design a Cultural Centre in Jaffna

 

[Gene]

i didn't know that a ferry service started between sri lanka & india. by the way nice development between two countries.

as for jayalalita concerns she should concentrate more on her promised freebies(mixer,washing machine,....etc) to tamil nadu people rather than india-srelanka relationship.

 

[Singh Balwinder]

Tamils living in SriLanka are Lankans...why do we have to worry so much about them? that we suspend important ties with SL! Yes if they are oppressed,we should protest and try to sort it out..but why suspend important relations?

 

[samv]