Minority welfare minister Shahid Ali Khan at the awards ceremony in Patna on Thursday. Telegraph picture

Patna, July 21: Call it fate or coincidence. The ceremony to distribute literary awards to around 150 Urdu poets and authors from the state and outside, late by four or five years, was delayed by another two hours today as the chief guest turned up late at the event.

Minority welfare minister Shahid Ali Khan distributed cheques, cash and certificates at the award ceremony organised by Bihar Urdu Academy. The event was slated to start at 11am but the minister arrived around 12.45pm.

The awardees were selcted for 2006-07 and 2008-09. According to employees of the academy, the awards for 2007-08 were not given owing to funds crunch. Even the minister during his speech acknowledged the prevailing anomalies. “There has been a prolonged backlog in the award distribution in the past. However, we are putting things in order now and we hope to streamline things at the earliest,” said Khan.

Khan is the executive chairman and chief minister Nitish Kumar is the chairman of the academy.

The minister claimed that attempts are being made to “kill” the Urdu language.

“Many non-Urdu speaking people speak the language with a bad pronunciation, which seems to be a conspiracy to kill the charm of the language. Even Urdu-speaking people refrain from writing letters in Urdu, which is not good for the language. Also, there isn’t scope for Urdu-speaking people in the state as there are very few posts for Urdu translators.”

and those who know Urdu are often found working in other departments,” added Khan.

Other speakers raised the issue of increasing the award money. “At present, a minimum of Rs 15,000 and a maximum of Rs 50,000 are given. However, I believe it should be raised to a minimum of Rs 25,000 and a maximum of Rs 1,51,000,” said Shejad Anwar Ansari, the former secretary of the academy.

“Urdu is a beautiful language and all efforts should be undertaken for its promotion. The academy should work for the betterment the language. The total award money should also be increased,” said Wahad Ansari, a noted Urdu author.

The minister said: “I would ask the principal secretary of the minority welfare department to raise the award money to Rs 5 to 7 lakhs.”