Wedding-related associations have appealed to the State government to relax the restrictions imposed on gathering of people for weddings.
Singai N. Muthu, president of the Tamil Nadu Wedding Hall Owners’ Association, said the State has nearly 3,600 wedding halls in different categories and about 20 lakh people are employed directly or indirectly in the wedding sector. The sector covers a wide range of services - catering, photography, event management and artisans.
Since the lockdown in March this year because of COVID-19 pandemic, the wedding halls are seeing cancellation of bookings. “We had bookings even till November. It is all cancelled,” he said.
The government permits only 50 people to gather for a wedding. It should relax that norm and permit 50 % of the wedding hall's capacity, he said. It should also reduce the GST on wedding halls to 5 % from the existing 18 % and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board should relax the mandatory requirements. The wedding hall owners need to pay for the employees, maintain the halls, pay for electricity, etc. Several students find part-time jobs in the related services, such as catering. Every one is affected because of the restrictions.
The associations related to the wedding sector, numbering almost 17, have come together to form a State-level federation. The federation will try to meet the Chief Minister and present their demands, he said.
