Govt bracing up to give int’l kite fest a flying start in city

Hyderabad: The State government is gearing up for organising the VII edition of the International Kites and Sweets Festival in January. The Tourism Department officials have sent the invitations to participants from different parts of the world.

The government every year hosts the Kites and Sweets festival here. The three-day event is held at Secunderabad Parade Grounds between January 13 and 15. The festival has been a hit among the masses as lakhs of visitors throng to the Parade Ground every year.

The city residents enjoy flying kites during the Sankranti festival. The annual event attracts people of all ages thanks to the wide varieties of kites, including giant ones.

Officials have written to the government to extend invitations to professional kite flyers from across the world. The department invites flyers from Australia, Sri Lanka, Canada, Cambodia, Scotland, Thailand, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Italy, and the national flyers.

The kite festival was started in 2018; in the first year itself, over eight lakh people attended. After the Covid pandemic, the event was cancelled from 2020 to 2023. The festival is being re-started this year, and the response is expected to be good. Officials say there will be an attraction of night flying, like the previous year. Many countries are keen to participate in the event. This year they may expect more than 50 flyers from different countries. They said that the government gets Rs 50 lakh from the Centre for the festival. They said, “Besides witnessing colourful and attractive kites, visitors will also enjoy sweets from different parts of the country. People from the States sell over 400 types of home-made sweets as well as Telangana cuisine at the food court. Cultural programmes will be organised during the festival.”