Work on a Urdu-Gujarati dictionary began in right earnest, and crossed many a hurdle, but this time round, appears to be stuck with a rather troublesome thorn: Copies of the dictionary are lying in the Akademi godowns waiting for a VIP to release it.

Akademi registrar Dalpat Padhiar said the dictionary was ready to hit the stands a month ago but the release function was delayed by the ongoing vacations. The release is now slated for the final week of June. ``We are trying to get Hamidullah Bhat, director of the Bureau for Promotion of Urdu, New Delhi, to attend the release function,'' he said.

Besides Bhat, the Akademi also wants to invite Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari and Minister of State for Youth Services andCultural Activities Mahendra Trivedi. But co-ordinating the VIPs' dates is proving to be a tough job. And for those who have been eagerly awaiting the release, the wait is proving to be frustrating.

According to Akademi member M G Bombaywalla, inquiries had started pouring in a couple of years ago, with a steady increase in numbers every month. He suggests the dictionary be released without further delay.

The project was launched over a decade ago and thousands of entries were prepared by a team of persons hired specially for the project.

However, the canvas of the project became so vast that it became difficult to handle the work. When the task of preparing entry cards was half-way through, it occurred to the Akademi authorities to consult experts for verifying the authenticity of the entries.

The move proved to be a turning point in the project because Rashid Hasan Khan, the New Delhi-based expert, rejected more than half the entries and asked the Akademi to restart according to his guidelines.Though it was a back-breaking experience, the effort was worth it. Four years had elapsed and another three years were spent in preparing new entries. The entries were then sent for photo-typesetting. Ultimately, the dictionary was ready for release six months ago.

According to Akademi sources, Rs 8 lakh has been spent on the project. And though the actual production cost per copy is Rs 500, the dictionary will be sold at a throwaway cost of Rs 160. The first edition has 2,000 copies with 1,138 pages spanning some 50,000 entries.