The state government will organise the First Youth Adventure Sports Festival at the Bihar Veterinary College ground between March 16 and 18 in a bid to promote such sporting activities among the residents, especially youths.

The event is being organised by the art, culture and youth affairs department in association with Everest Foundation, Bihar Adventurous Sports Academy and Navjivan Kalyan Samiti.

“This is for the first time that the government is organising a festival of youth adventurous sports in the state. The festival is in line with a series of various programmes and the events are being organised by the government in the run-up to the Bihar centenary year celebrations,” art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhda Pandey told reporters on Thursday.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar would inaugurate the event, Pandey said, adding that deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi would be a special guest on the occasion. Thousands of college and school students would also attend the event.

Padma Shree awardee mountaineer Santosh Yadav, who had scaled Mount Everest twice in a span of a year (1992 and 1993), would monitor the events on all three days, she said.

During the three-day event, four types of adventure sports — parasailing, artificial rock climbing and rappelling, relay cycle race and adventure photography — would be organised, the minister said.

While parasailing will be organised at Bihar Veterinary College ground, rock climbing would be held at Moin-ul-Haq Stadium, where two artificial rocks would be created for the purpose, Pandey said.

The relay cycle race would start from Raj Bhavan and end at Gandhi Maidan on March 18, whereas adventure photography would comprise covering all these events. A 14-member team of technical experts from Everest School of Adventure, Manali, would conduct the events.

An air show with a two-seater flexible wing-powered paraglider would be the prime attraction at the inaugural function.

“It is just the beginning. The state government will organise such adventure sports events in future in Rajgir, Kaimur, Rohtas and Jamui, where there is ample opportunity to organise rock climbing. Santosh Yadav will take up training programmes to popularise adventure sports like rock climbing among youths of the state,” said the minister.