Hyderabad: Sweets, kites rule the fest

Hyderabad: The International Kite and Sweet Festival started at the Secunderabad Parade Ground for Sankranti, with some new additions. The festival this year has an exhibition of weapons of the police and competitions in local games like golilu, goti billa, sack race and tyre race.

For the kite  enthusiasts, there was some disappointment. Though there were kiting experts from about 15 countries including South Korea, Ukraine and Indonesia, the lack of breeze let them down.

“These kites are very heavy and they need a stiff breeze to fly but the weather is not favourable,” said a local kite flyer from Kohinoor Kite Club in the city. There were some night kite flyers from Singapore who would fly their kites using a battery.

Competitions for local traditional games were also set up in the Gymkhana Ground as a part of the festival. There were, however, not many participants. Tourism officials said the competitions would be held at Parade Grounds itself instead of Gymkhana Ground. The state police distributed their own kites to the public.

The display of sniffer dogs that trace explosives and narcotics attracted the attention of many. In the stalls, the police’s canine team of German Shepherd, labrador and golden retriever were displayed, which are deployed during VIP movement and during major investigations. Nineteen kinds of weapons that are being used by police were also on display.

There were about 500 participants at the sweets festival, with participants from West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha among others.
Officials like ministers Srinivas Goud and Srinivas Yadav were at the festival as also tourism secretary Burra Venkatesham and police commissioner Anjani Kumar.