Aryabhatta Knowledge University vice-chancellor SN Guha (second from left) inaugurates Technika’12 at BIT-Patna on Saturday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, March 3: The much-awaited technical fest of Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Technika ’12, today teed off on a high note at the institute’s Patna campus.

Dr S.N. Guha, the vice-chancellor of Aryabhatta Knowledge University (AKU) inaugurated the four-day extravaganza in the presence of G.P. Lal, a member of the BIT-Mesra board of governors, B.N. Giri, director of BIT-Patna, and S.P. Lal, the deputy director of BIT-Patna. Teachers, students and Team Technika members also attended the event, which was followed by a prayer and an overview of the event given by Technika general secretary Indranil Goswami.

In his inaugural address, director Giri highlighted the achievements of the college students in academic as well as non-academic fields. Chief guest Guha appreciated the students’ efforts for organising such a grand event. He added that such events not only help the students to showcase their talents, but also motivated them to “think out of the box”.

The inaugural ceremony concluded with the director presenting mementos to the chief guest and the guest-of-honour.

In the evening, Justice (retd) Rajendra Prasad, a member of the Bihar Human Rights Commission, inaugurated the alumni meeting of Birla Institute of Technology Old Students’ Association (Bitosa).

KPS Keshri, chairman of Bitosa’s Bihar chapter, was the guest of honour at the event. The students of the institute’s 1985-86 batch were honoured to acknowledge their 25th year. A cultural night organised by Pratibimb, the cultural society of BIT, Patna, lifted the spirit of the event.

The BIT-Patna, as part of tech fest, would also host a series of programmes in which not only students from the institute but also students outside the institute can participate in the fest.

Among various programmes to be held at Tech-nika are Innovations Challenge and Social Entrepreneurship.

Zeya Ahmad, a student of BIT-Patna, said: “Innovations Challenge is an initiative by Technika 2012, where the basic idea is to promote the idea of innovations among students.”

Apart from Innovation Challenge programmes, the fest will also have programmes on social entrepreneurship.

Moreover, there will be lectures for students from Nobel laureate Dr John Mather and Jaap Hartsen, inventor of Bluetooth technology from the Netherlands and others.