Sikkim to host the Paragliding Festival

FEST TO FEATURE INTERNATIONAL, NATIONAL AND SIKKIMESE PILOTS
GANGTOK, 13 Sept: Tourism & Civil Aviation Department will be organizing the first Sikkim Paragliding Festival 2012 in association with Paragliding Association of India [PAI] and Sikkim Paragliding Adventure Sports Co-operative Society Limited from 31 October to 03 November here in the capital.
The first ever paragliding festival in the state is scheduled to be held at the Sports Complex at Reshithang in Ranka. The pilots will take off from Bulbuley Dara [2200 meters] and land at the Sports Complex at Reshithang. The festival will be sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and Tourism & Civil Aviation Department, Sikkim Government. The PAI will be providing the technical expertise and will also be publicizing the event through their websites and affiliates.
Around 60 Indian and International paragliding pilots are expected to participate in the festival, which includes events like Free Flying event, Spot Landing contest, Acro Show, Tandem Flights and Seminar on Paragliding for students, youth and cultural programmes. The organizers have also been trying to get the Indian Air Force Sky Diving Team Show and the proposal is presently lying with the Ministry of Defence for clearance.
Addressing a press conference today, Tourism & Civil Aviation Minister, Bhim Dhungel said that the state has come forward to organize this adventure event in an organized and massive way for the first time in the state. He informed that the festival will also showcase the art, culture and cuisine of Sikkim.
The festival will have more than 35 paragliding pilots from Sikkim, of which 4 have already participated at the international level. The festival is being organized by the state mainly to encourage these local pilots and for their bright future.
The Minister pointed out that barring some, Sikkim has the potential to conduct almost all kinds of adventure activities in the state which would not only help develop and promote adventure tourism but also provide immense employment opportunities to the local youth in the state.
Tourism & Civil Aviation Secretary, Nalini G Pradhan said that the festival will have Indian and foreign paragliding pilots including many local pilots from Sikkim. She added that the festival will also help to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the state.
PAI general secretary, Manoj Roy mentioned that the main idea of the festival is to promote paragliding along with local culture and art of the state. He informed that the first PAI annual paragliding festival was held at Kamshet, Maharastra last year and this time Gangtok has been chosen for the second edition of the festival due to encouraging responses and cooperation received from the state and added that local pilots also played an instrumental role in promoting Sikkim as the preferred venue.
Mr Roy added that this festival was mainly for free flying by pilots from across the world apart from few Tandem Flights.  He further informed that ace pilots, instructors and renowned celebrities of paragliding from across the world have been invited and many have already confirmed their participation in the festival. These invitees include Jocky Sanderson from the United Kingdom, who is also the PAI advisor, Sanu Babu Sunwar from Nepal, Ed Ewing from the United Kingdom.
Jockey Sanderson is a well known international paragliding training specialist from the United Kingdom.
Sano Babu Sunawar is the winner of National Geographic 2012 People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year for his epic feat of climbing Mount Everest and then paragliding down and continuing by kayaking all the way downstream to the shores of the Bay of Bengal.
Ed Ewing is the editor of an international popular magazine about free flight, Cross Country Magazine. He has also been flying since 1990 and has been a journalist in UK since 2000.
Likewise, the festival will also have the ace pilot of the country, Debu Choudhury along with Sanjay Pendurkar, Vijay Soni and other pilots of Team India.
People of the state will also be able to see the first woman paragliding pilot from Sikkim, 24-year-old, Rinzing Doma Bhutia of Sombaria, West Sikkim flying in the sky. This young lady is also the first woman pilot of the country to participate in a paragliding competition at the national level.
Speaking at the press conference, Ms Bhutia shared that this festival will give huge exposure to the state in the field of adventure sports and especially in paragliding and added that the state has great potential to do better in this field.