Covid curbs hamper wedding plans, venues shift to villages

KARNAL: Only a week before the wedding of his daughter, Naresh Kumar, of Ladwa in Kurukshetra, had to shift the venue from a marriage palace to his native village after the government imposed restrictions on gatherings following rise in Covid-19 cases in state.

Naresh had booked a marriage palace for around Rs 1.90 lakh but now has to make arrangements for a tent and minimise the number of guests due to the danger posed by the His family is busy making calls to close relatives informing them about the change of venue as the invitation cards had already been distributed.

Despite this, Naresh was lucky as he belongs to a village and could change the venue swiftly. Hundreds others cannot shift the venue and are spending sleepless nights trying to get permission for their functions as now the government has limited the number of guests to 50 from 200, for all programmes.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, during a press on Saturday, said that people can defer their programmes. But people raised objection as they said weddings are not fixed in a week and their preparations begin more than a month before.

Khattar added that all powers have been given to deputy commissioners for any further restrictions. “I have already paid for marriage palace, decoration, DJ, movie maker, catering and cooks as we were expecting a gathering of around 1,200 people at my son’s marriage. How can we reschedule it now?” asked Chanderbhan, of Kurukpandemic. shetra, whose son’s marriage is fixed for Monday.

The new restrictions have increased worries for people who cannot defer the marriages and are now making rounds to offices of the district administrations for permissions.

As per authorities at the Karnal SDM office, over 150 applications seeking permission for marriages have been received since the restrictions were imposed.

Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha said as per guidelines, permissions are only being granted for a day’s function. Duty magisconference trate and local police will visit the venue on the wedding day to ensure that Covid guidelines are followed and strict action is taken against violators as per law.

Officials in Kaithal SDM office said over 50 applications for permission are coming in every day.

Moreover, the restrictions, especially night curfew, has cost the owners of marriage palaces heavily as they most marriages were fixed for night and have now been cancelled or shifted to villages due to fresh guidelines and night curfew.