The extended lockdown has dealt a severe blow to wedding and event management industry in Tiruchi.
According to a rough estimate, convention centres and marriage halls provide direct and indirect employment opportunities to about a lakh people such as event managers, caterers, cooks, catering employees, stage and floor decorators, orchestra artistes, electricians, “purohidars”, traditional musicians, photographers, videographers, pandal operators, tailors, cab operators, bridal make up artistes, vegetable suppliers and others in the district. There are about 100 standard marriage halls within the city alone. Of them, 20 halls are in the premium category. There are marriage halls that charge rent in terms of lakhs of rupees a day. Additionally, most of the hotels have convention centres. There are people, who book marriage halls even before finalising the marriage plans.
Since the lockdown, which began on March 25, all marriage halls and convention centres have been closed. Though there is no bar on marriages, not more than 15 guests including close and blood relatives of bride and bridegroom can attend the marriage functions, thereby forcing them to cancel the bookings at marriage halls or postpone the marriages.
According to industry sources, those who had booked the marriage halls between March 25 and June, have cancelled their bookings. In some cases, cancellations have stretched beyond July and August. They have been pressuring the marriage hall owners to refund the advance amount. It has affected almost all stakeholders of wedding and event management industry.
“The lockdown has severely hit various people right from flower sellers, hair dressers to marriage hall owners. It has paralysed the industry. We are really clueless about our future,” says Rathish Ravi, proprietor, Tiruchi Wedding Planner.
While the owners of marriage halls struggle to pay their bank dues and face other unavoidable expenditure, others face livelihood issues.
“So many businesses such as jewellery marts, textile showrooms, hotels, cab operators, event managers, catering, ice cream parlours and others are interlinked to wedding industry. It has to restart immediately,” Mr. Rathish said.
On behalf of the marriage hall and event managements associations, petitions have been sent to the State Government and the Tiruchi Collector to take steps to give relief to the wedding industry, he added.