Ban on 675 parks leads to space crunch for thousands of weddings

Delhiiites have been facing an acute shortage of space for holding marriages in the city as civic agencies have put a ban on holding social functions in most of the parks following Delhi High Court directions.

Delhiiites have been facing an acute shortage of space for holding marriages in the city as civic agencies have put a ban on holding social functions in most of the parks following Delhi High Court directions.

HT Image

The situation has aggravated over a period of time as after the ban the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was supposed to construct new community halls to cater to the needs of the people.

The high court had put a ban on 675 parks where such functions cannot take place. The civic agency currently has a total of 135 parks where wedding functions are still allowed to take place but even they prove inadequate with thousands of weddings taking place in a day.

According to purohits, "Sunday, November 30 and December 2 to December 4 have been earmarked as auspicious days for solemnising Hindu marriages," said Pandit Acharya Krishan Dutt, a priest. Thousands of weddings are expected to take place in the coming few days.

"Most of our community centres were actually booked in advance as there is shortage of venues in addition to most parks that also fall within our jurisdiction," said YS Mann, director (press and information), MCD.

The tent mafia too has been adding to the shortage as they book most of the venues in advance which they then let out to people at an increased rate. "There are thousands of weddings which will take place in the coming few days. At many places tent mafia have taken over the venues and will be giving it illegally to people at a higher cost. As people don't have any option they will have to shell out money," claimed Purshottam Kalra, president of Shamiana Dealers Vypaar Sudhaar Samiti.

The only alternatives Delhiites have are the 60 odd farmhouses and 135 MCD parks where weddings can be organised.

Auspicious time rush key factor
New Delhi: The huge rush for marriages in the coming two weeks is because of four reasons, astrologers say. "Such a good time has come after four months. It was very difficult to find auspicious days about three months before Diwali, so it is sort of a backlog of marriages that we will see now," said Acharaya Krishna Dutt, a priest.

He also added that during this period of two weeks, the planetary alignments are so auspicious that consulting a priest to settle a marriage date isn't necessary.

According to Acharaya Krishna Dutt, the auspicious dates end on December 15 and there will not be any other date till January 15. "This coupled with the fact that the weather is very favour-able during this time ensures that the number of weddings in this season are highest," he added.