Chief minister Nitish Kumar arrives to light candles at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, March 22: All roads lead to the historic Gandhi Maidan today, the venue of the Bihar Divas centenary celebrations.

The state government declared Tuesday an official holiday and people trooped down to the venue in large numbers.

A number of cultural events and programmes had been organised on the first day of the three-day event.

Crowds began to swell in the evening after chief minister Nitish Kumar officially inaugurated the Bihar Divas function.

The traffic movement at Gandhi Maidan roundabout was choked. Traffic personnel had a harrowing time in managing the traffic.

Apart from stalls and tableaux put up by the human resource department (HRD) depicting the cultural heritage of Bihar, there were many stalls put up by various departments which also witnessed heavy footfall.

The stall put up by state disaster management department witnessed a large number of people.

Charts, models and pictorial representations of various dos and don’ts during natural calamities were put up. There were also teams from disaster management department giving tips to people who thronged the stalls.

Captain Manoj Chaurasia, of national disaster response force told The Telegraph: “We hold exhibitions and our teams inform people about various precaution one should take during natural calamities such as earthquake, floods and others.”

Information regarding various life-saving jackets and safety tips were given to the visitors. “By joining neck tight empty plastic bottles one can prepare a raft which can be useful during floods,” Chaurasia said. He added for a person weighing up to 90kg, nine to 10 bottles are required to prepare the raft.

The department had also organised a free medical check-up camp in which senior citizens were conducted free blood pressure checks. More than 300 people had turned up for the free blood pressure check-up till evening.

On the entertainment front there were various quiz and painting competitions.

On the occasion, the HRD department had also organised an all-India volleyball tournament.

In one of the matches in the evening, Indian Overseas Bank clashed with Combined Army, while in another match Air Force was fighting a pitched battle against Railway.

Sports enthusiasts visited the venue in large numbers where the tournament was going on.

There were khadi while handicraft stalls put up and Madhubani paintings and other items were on display.