COVID-19: Most weddings in C'garh postponed; industry affected

Raipur, May 27 () Twenty-four-year-old Shraddha Patel, a private school teacher in Durg district of Chhattisgarh, was supposed to get married on May 17, but her family had to call off the wedding after the coronavirus- induced lockdown came into force in March.

Her family is in a dilemma now as they want to hold the marriage ceremony next month with downsized gathering and simple celebration, whereas the couple is unwilling to tie the knot in the absence of their relatives and friends.

"We had booked the venue and started with pre-marriage preparations after my engagement on March 1. Generally in our state wedding arrangements begin much ahead of the wedding schedule," Shraddha told over phone.

Her marriage was fixed with an IT assistant at a steel plant in Durg.

"Our families (bride and groom) then planned to reschedule the marriage in the year end, but in view of the muhurat (auspicious moment), they wanted to hold it next month," she said.

"I don't want a lavish wedding with hundreds of guests, but at least I want my close friends and relatives to be present there on the occasion. However, it is not possible according to the present rules which allow only 15 people to attend a wedding function. So we are trying to figure out when to hold the wedding," she said.

T Vaibhavi (21), a final year student of polytechnic college in Bhilai town, has the same story.

Her father had booked a marriage hall 'Jain Bhavan' in Bhilai for her wedding with a Hyderabad-based engineer on June 10 and paid a handsome amount in advance.

"We have no regret that we have lost money given in advance for marriage preparations. We just wish that we all should get rid of coronavirus soon and people should stay safe. Marriage can be held later," said T V Murali, Vaibhavi's father.

According to sources, nearly 80 per cent of weddings were postponed across the state due to the lockdown.

It can be assessed by the fact that the administration in various districts have so far received only a few applications seeking permission for holding weddings in May and June.

During the past two weeks, the Durg district administration received applications seeking permission for holding 400 weddings, government officials said.

Similarly, authorities in Raipur received 400 such applications during this period while permissions were sought for 134 weddings in Raigarh town, 50 in Korba and 90 in Bilaspur, they said.

Most of the applications were received from rural areas, officials said.

The wedding hall owners and caterers are bearing the bruntof the cancellation of weddings scheduled in this summer (April-June), which is considered as a peak marriage season in the state.

Sanjay Choubey, who runs a wedding hall- Abhinandan Palace- in Raipur said,"We had about 18 bookings for April and May and all of them were cancelled after the lockdown was imposed. We suffered a cumulative loss of about Rs 25 lakh in this season."

"We are not even in a position to refund the advance as we have to spend around Rs 60,000 per month on maintenance of the venue. We are in complete loss and it seems the situation will remain the same throughout the year," he said.

A Raipur-based caterer, Vimal Yadu, said, "My business has been in total loss since the last three months. I had got the order for around 22 weddings but all of them were cancelled. I suffered a loss of about Rs 15 lakh."

"It is not just the hall owners or caterers, but even those who provide lights, flower decorations and sound services also suffered a huge loss," he added. COR TKP NP NP