Tent house owners, caterers off work from April 22 to 30
LUCKNOW : After traders, the Lucknow Adarsh Tent and Catering Vyapari Association and Decorators’ Association have either postponed or cancelled all bookings for marriages, parties and birthdays from April 22 to 30 to control the surge in corona cases. Following this, a number of marriages, tilak ceremonies and engagements have been postponed.
President of Lucknow Adarsh Tent and Catering Vyapari Association Vijay Kumar said,” Around 20,000 to 25,000 bookings have been postponed till to June and July in agreement with customers. Only 10 per cent of customers are stressing on going ahead with their programmes despite surge in Covid cases.”
“The marriage industry of the state capital has a turnover of around Rs 2500 crore per annum and has been affected adversely since last year due to Covid. Survival of more than 1900 registered caterers , 2000 tent house owners and 1500 marriage hall owners depends on weddings, engagement, tilak, roka, mundan etc,” he said.
AFTER THE SURGE IN COVID CASES IN THE PAST 15 DAYS, AROUND 80 TO 90% BOOKINGS HAVE EITHER BEEN CANCELLED OR PUSHED AHEAD
“After the surge in Covid cases in the past 15 days, around 80 to 90 per cent bookings have either been cancelled or pushed ahead. we are getting a huge support from customers as they are understanding the situation. Despite having loans, most of the caterers, tent house owners and decorators have decided to go ahead with postponement of function to stop the spread of virus. Not only this all the association members have pleaded with marriage hall owners and hotels to adjust the advance amount in further bookings. Most owners have agreed to adjust the advance amount,” he said.
“Going by the bookings, more than one lakh marriages were to be solemnized this season. But from April 22 to April 30, we are not going to work as we don’t want to risk our staff and others.”
Ritik Jaiswal, general secretary of Lucknow Adarsh Tent Vyapari Association said, “After May when we will resume our work , we want to assure the authorities that our staff will carry a Covid negative certificate or vaccination certificate.”