Marriage called off after groom tests positive for coronavirus in Odisha

BERHAMPUR:  A groom who had tested positive for Covid-19 but tried suppressing the fact was sent to isolation as the administration got wind of the matter at Daseipur village under Sanakhemundi block of Ganjam district on Friday. The wedding, needless to mention, was cancelled. 

The local administration along with police reached the marriage venue and took away the groom who was identified as Rajendra Dandia of Daseipur. He has been kept in isolation in a house in the village. The Ganjam administration has made Covid tests of the bride and groom besides their parents mandatory before marriage.

Accordingly, Rajendra underwent Covid test as his wedding ceremony was scheduled to take place on Thursday morning. Before he reached the marriage mandap, his report came positive. But his family members tried to conceal the fact and attempted to go ahead with the marriage. Somehow, the information reached Sanakhemundi block development officer (BDO) Gayatridutta Nayak who reached the venue with tehsildar Srinivas Behera and IIC Sabyasachi Malla.

They stopped the marriage and picked up Rajendra from the venue before putting him under quarantine. The bride has also been kept in isolation in a separate house. As the news of the groom testing positive spread, panic spread among the locals who had come to attend the marriage ceremony and were present at the venue.

Later, the administration seized the food cooked for the marriage party and distributed it among the poor and destitute of the area. Sources said despite the State government’s restrictions on the number of attendees in a wedding ceremony and conduct of feast, many families in Ganjam are solemnising marriages in violation of the guidelines.

In a separate incident on the day, the administration fined organisers of a marriage ceremony at a kalyan mandap in Gopinathpur within Hinjili police limits. BDO Subrat Jena with Hinjili IIC Abhimanyu Das raided the venue and seized food cooked for over 1,000 persons. The cooked food was distributed among the poor. A similar feast was stopped at Fasiguda village in Digapahandi block. While the organiser was fined `20,000, the cooked food was served to the needy people.