Bhubaneswar, March 22: A group of youths from Sundargarh have taken the responsibility to increase the popularity of their district by promoting its tourism prospects.

Their group - Pixels, Sundargarh - comprises 13 members including students, entrepreneurs and working personnel from various walks of life with a common interest in photography.

Since the past two years, the group has been organising a photography exhibition on the Independence Day at the district civic centre inviting young photographers to showcase their skills.

"Photography is still limited to the studios in the rural areas of the district. We wanted to promote various aspects of the art among the youths," said Subhendu Biswal, a member the group.

The group members also visit various colleges in the district occasionally to conduct workshops on dance, music and photography. "We invite experts to the colleges to provide the students with an exposure towards contemporary trends in the cultural scenario," said Anurag Mohanty, a student of NIT, Rourkela, and also a member of the group.

Recently, they had conducted a photography exhibition at the Sundargarh Engineering College. They also keep the students of the colleges updated about the various competitions and cultural festival conducted in the city.

"There are so many cultural events happening in the city on a regular basis. Students from the rural areas, however, are hardly aware of it. So, we try to provide them with the necessary information so they can come forward and take part in them," said Mohanty.

They have also created a Facebook page where they post pictures clicked by the group members at various locations of the district. All the pictures are aimed at promoting the scenic beauty of the district.

At present they are working on a documentary capturing the beauty of the district. "As it is a tribal-dominated district, the documentary would feature scenes from the lives of the local people. The video would aim at promoting the district's tourism," said Samir Baliar Singh, another member of the group.

They would also promote the video on various social networking sites and screen it at various colleges and universities of the state.

"We want to promote the tourism of our district. It will be possible only when more people are aware of the cultural vibrancy of the district," said Singh.

The group has also launched two conceptual calendars, one promoting the beauty of Odisha and the other showing the close bond between humans and animals.