Even as memories of the fourth World Telugu Conference, held in Tirupati from December 27 to 29, are still fresh, the cheques issued to those who performed at the mega event started bouncing.
The artistes, poets and writers, as well as the contractors who executed various works for the three-day conference, have found to their dismay that the cheques given to them could not be encashed.
Since Saturday, they all started arriving at the district collector’s office here, after they were informed by their banks that the cheques submitted by them bounced.
Many came to the collectorate on Sunday too, despite it being a holiday, as a mark of protest. They were not expecting this since it is widely known that `50 crore had been sanctioned by the government for conducting the event.
When contacted, district revenue officer (DRO) O Seshaiah, while admitting that the cheques had bounced, said the issue will settled in a week. All the payments will be cleared without any problem, he said.
Meanwhile, TDP senior leader G Mudhukrishanama Naidu said the bouncing of cheques given to the artistes and others amply demonstrated that it was all just pomp and there was no serious commitment on the part of the government.