Delhi Launches First Yamuna River Cruise, the Namo Safari

Delhi launched its first recreational cruise service on the Yamuna on Tuesday. The Namo Yamuna River Safari was inaugurated at Sonia Vihar by Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, in the presence of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

The service runs a six-kilometre round trip between Sonia Vihar and Jagatpur in north Delhi. A 30-seat electric vessel makes the trip in about 30 minutes. After the launch, Sonowal and Gupta took a ride on the river.

What the launch means

Delhi has a river at its centre and almost no public life on it. The Yamuna is the city's defining waterway, and the cruise is the first attempt to give residents a recreational way to use it.

The service was developed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India, under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, with the Delhi Development Authority, the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation, the Delhi Jal Board and the Irrigation and Flood Control Department.

The Yamuna carries the designation National Waterway-110 under the National Waterways Act, 2016. The project began with an agreement signed in March 2025 between the waterways authority and Delhi government agencies to promote cruise tourism on the Sonia Vihar to Jagatpur stretch.

Road to launch day

A trial run covered the full route on Oct 26, when Chief Minister Gupta rode the stretch with Delhi minister Kapil Mishra to check passenger arrangements.

Tickets are sold online through the Delhi Tourism website. No fare was announced in the launch reports carried by ANI and the Press Information Bureau.

The launch also lands in a hard week for the river's city. Delhi's air stayed in the very poor band this week after Diwali, and the river itself stays under scrutiny for pollution. The cruise does not answer that. It gives residents a new way to see the Yamuna, and its success will rest on whether the water and the service stay clean enough to draw repeat riders.

Who was there

The launch drew both governments. ANI reported that Minister of State Shantanu Thakur and Minister of State Harsh Malhotra attended, along with Delhi ministers Parvesh Sahib Singh, Kapil Mishra and Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and Member of Parliament Manoj Tiwari. Senior officials at the launch included Vijay Kumar, secretary in the shipping ministry, Delhi chief secretary Rajeev Verma and Sushil Kumar Lohani, the chairman of the waterways authority.

The joint structure is the point. The Centre controls the waterway, the Delhi government controls the banks and the tourism offer, and the service needed both to exist. That is also its risk: a river service with five owners has to keep all five at the table through the winter season, when fog and low water test river operations in the capital.