Maharashtra: Royal weddings for 3046 poor couples

PUNE: Over 3,000 poor couples from across the Maharashtra tied the knot at mass weddings that took place at several places in the state.

Last month, state charity commissioner Shivkumar Dige appealed to local religious institutions and trusts in the state to utilise their spare funds to arrange mass weddings in their respective areas - especially for the daughters and sons of farmers and farm labourers.

In response to the appeal, several religious trusts, social organizations and individuals loosened their purse strings to fund marriages of over 3046 couples across the state.

"The religious trusts and institutions were urged to fund the mass weddings in view of the agrarian distress. The number of farmer suicides is high in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions," Dige said.

In many cases, the expenditure on daughter's wedding becomes a major reason for a farmer's indebtedness, which at times leads to suicides, he noted.

The charity commissioner office in Mumbai set up district-wise committees to execute the plan and spread the word about mass weddings among the public.

More than 95 couples from the Wada tehsil in Palghar district tied the knot at the mass wedding in Mumbai in the presence of their family members and relatives, he said.

Newly wed couples were pleasantly surprised when some prominent personalities attended the ceremony.

Union minister Ramdas Athawale and Maharashtra minister Subhash Desai blessed the couples at the mass wedding event in Mumbai.

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