Patna, March 21: Those of you who have friends and relatives outside the state, here is some good news for your loved ones, who will be unable to come home for the state’s foundation day celebrations.

The California chapter of Bihar Foundation has decided to webcast the inaugural function of Bihar Divas celebrations tomorrow at www.biharparishad.org for the Bihari diaspora.

Bihar Foundation spokesperson Satyajit Singh said: “The various chapters of the foundation in different countries have been informed about the preparations in this regard. They have been requested to inform the members of the Bihar disapora residing in their country about the webcasting.”

Singh said the services of www.ustream.tv have been roped in for uploading the live video footage of the event. One link of the live web streaming of the event would also be available on the website of Bihar Foundation — www.biharfoundation.in.

The Bihar Foundation was set up in 2007 by the state government. It is a registered society working under the department of industry. The purpose of the foundation is to make the Bihari diaspora aware about the developments taking place in the state and to link them to their roots.

The foundation has set up its chapter in several countries. Ravi Verma, an engineer who runs a software company — Telecommand Software and Services — in the US, heads the foundation’s California chapter. One of its branches functions in Katihar district. The company has entered into an understanding with Beltron, a unit of the state government, which has provided 2MBPS Internet bandwidth for webcasting the event.

A team of the company’s Katihar unit is camping in Patna for making the necessary preparations for glitch-free webcasting of the event.

“On the first day, we will provide a three-hour live feed on the website which will cover the inaugural event,” team leader Khalid Akhtar told The Telegraph.

Regarding the coverage of the functions, which would be held on March 23 and 24 at Gandhi Maidan, Akhtar said the details of the coverage of other programmes were being worked out. Efforts would be made to cover the most important functions.

Bihar Divas is celebrated to commemorate the day when the state was separated from Bengal in 1912.

Earlier, no function was held to mark the date. But from last year, the NDA government has been organising events to mark the day.

As Bihar would be entering its 100th year of statehood, the state government has decided to organise a number of functions in the capital and other districts.