More than 70 winners of the National Film Awards have decided to skip the ceremony that will be held on Thursday after a last-minute announcement that President Ram Nath Kovind would be presenting only 11 awards.

Rashtrapati Bhavan, in a statement released on Thursday, expressed surprise at the “11th hour questions” and said the President attends all award functions for a maximum one hour and this was conveyed to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

“President attends all award functions and convocations for a maximum of one hour. This has been the protocol since he took office. It was conveyed to Information and Broadcasting Ministry several weeks ago and the ministry knew this all along. Rashtrapati Bhavan is surprised by the 11th hour questions that have been raised,” said Ashok Malik, press secretary to the president.

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The Press Information Bureau informed earlier that the function will be organised in two phases this year as the first set of awards will be conferred by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and the Minister of State Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore from 4 pm. The second set will be presented by the President from 5.30 pm.

The winners of the National Award wrote a letter, which was marked to the Office of the President and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and said they were informed about the change in the schedule on Wednesday by Chaitanya Prasad, Additional Director General of the Directorate of Film Festivals.

In the letter, the artists said they were disheartened and “felt dejected rather than honoured” on being informed at the last minute that the President would present only 11 awards.

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“It feels like a breach of trust when an institution/ceremony that abides by extreme protocol fails to inform us of such a vital aspect of the ceremony with a prior notice. It seems unfortunate that 65 years of tradition are being overturned in a jiffy,” read the letter, signed by more than 70 filmmakers and artistes from across the country.

The signatories include noted singer K J Yesudas, named this year’s best playback singer, Bengali filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly, whose film “Nagarkirtan” has been named the best Bengali film, and best supporting actor winner Fahadh Faasil.

(With PTI inputs)