ENTHUSIASTIC GROUP: Youngsters cheering and dancing to the tunes of Sufi Singer Kailash Kher during the Gulbarga Utsav at Chandrashekar Patil Stadium in Gulbarga on Monday.

GULBARGA: The eight-day music and dance extravaganza "Karnataka Vaibhava and Gulbarga District Utsav" got off to a stormy start on Monday night at the Chandrashekar Patil Stadium with the local artistes staging a protest at the venue for the inordinate delay in starting the programme and alleging neglect.

With the temperature dipping below 14 degree Celsius, children, literally shivering and all dressed to play their part in the two-and-a-half-hour Karnataka Vaibhava programme were made to wait in the ground for more than seven hours, without tea or snacks.

The cultural festival, billed as one of the biggest-ever music and dance extravaganza in recent years, was originally scheduled to start at 5 p.m. But it was inaugurated at 7.30 p.m. as the district in-charge and Agricultural Marketing Minister Sharanabasappa Darshanapur reached the venue late.

Much to the chagrin of the organisers and participants, the sound system, specially brought from Hyderabad for the programme, developed snags even as the inauguration programme was on. While people started leaving the venue, children who came from different dance troupes and schools for the "Karnataka Vaibhava" programme sat huddled in the ground wearing shawls.

The organisers instead of advancing the "Karnataka Vaibhava" programme, waited for the sound system to be repaired, to enable Kailash Kher to give his performance.

The brewing discontent among the local artistes over the delay in starting their programme came to the fore when the performance by Kher and his troupe continued.

They stormed into the venue and started raising slogans against the officials for neglecting local artistes and Kannada, forcing Kher to stop his programme.

Deputy Commissioner Pankajkumar Pandey intervened and assuaged the feelings of the local artistes and gave directions to the officials to start the Karnataka Vaibhava.

The programme came to a close well after midnight.

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