Tent owners, caterers want gatherings curbs eased

Jamshedpur: Battling to remain economically viable, tent house owners, caterers and light and sound system providers in the Steel City have asked the state government to ease Covid-19 curbs on social gatherings and help them revive their business, which has dried up ever since the imposition of the nationwide lockdown in March.
Close to 200 tent decorators, 150 sound and light system dealers and 250 caterers in the twin cities of Jamshedpur and Adityapur have suffered business loss worth crores in the past three months. They have asked the Hemant Soren government to increasing the limit on number of persons allowed at marriages from the existing 50 to 200 and from 20 to 100 for shraadh ceremonies.
After a meeting with East Singhbhum DC Ravi Shankar Shukla on Monday, Dinesh Sah, president of All Decorators Sangarsh Samiti, said they have suffered losses in crores due to cancellation of marriage and religious ceremonies political events, conferences etc. He said, “The limitation on the number of people at gatherings leaves no scope of doing business for us. We urge the state government an increase the number of persons allowed to attend social gatherings,”
The association functionaries said the government should fix the number of attendees depending on the capacity of the venue. Tent decorators asked the government to identify large grounds in residential colonies and allow marriages and other social, religious and cultural events so that at least 200 people can gather while adhering to social distancing and other safety norms.
Chandan Bhattacharjee, proprietor of Anand Tent Light and Caterer, said, “The wedding season in April and May was washed out completely. A small number of auspicious dates were available in June, but that too will end on Tuesday as the holy month of Shravan begins,” said tent house decorator. He said with the government should allow temple committees to host Shravan programmes during the holy month so that there is some business for tents and lights.
Sudarshan Kumar, owner of S K Tent, said the marriage season is the time when he makes most of his earnings and that helps him remain financially viable for the rest of the year.
Rohit Kumar of Dinesh Lights and Sound System agreed. “We provided livelihoods to lakhs of people, including electricians, generator operators, cooks, catering staff, band party members and florists Their families depend on our revenues for sustenance. For three months, we are giving them salary without getting any business and revenues, but how long can we continue this way,” he asked.
Tanmay Event owner, Deepak Singh, said they are incurring huge losses. “Our income has plunged to almost zero since March 24 because of cancellation of functions. If the present situation continues, we will have no choice but to wind up our business,” he said.