Amid Covid surge, 2,100 wedding bookings cancelled in Rohtak

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, January 10

Owners of tent houses, banquet halls, hotels and band groups in Rohtak district are staring at huge losses yet again. The reason: Bookings for over 2,100 weddings scheduled to be held in the first quarter of this year have been cancelled after the imposition of fresh restrictions in view of a sudden surge in Covid cases.

Orders called off

1,600 for wedding tents

250 for banquet halls

300 for celebrations in hotels

100-person cap on wedding functions has dashed hopes of owners of tent houses, banquet halls, hotels and bands

As per the latest Covid guidelines, maximum 100 persons are allowed at a wedding function. “Over 3,000 weddings were scheduled to be solemnised in Rohtak district in the first quarter of the year and people had started booking tents and caterers in October last year. Over 1,600 bookings for tents have been cancelled so far and 40 of them were with me,” said Dilbagh Saini, general secretary, Tent Dealers Welfare Association, Haryana. The scheduled weddings had either been postponed or would now be solemnised at home without much fanfare, he said.

Sunil Rathi, president of the Rohtak Banquet and Resort Welfare Association, said over 70 per cent (250) bookings had already been cancelled so far. “April to June is the peak season for weddings and the bookings for that period generally start from January. But, people are now in a “wait and watch” mode, awaiting the lifting of curbs,” he added.

Ashok Bhambhri, president of the Rohtak Hotel and Banquet Association, said Covid restrictions and health awareness among people were the main reasons behind the cancellation of hotel bookings in Rohtak city for over 300 weddings.

“Having suffered huge losses over the past two years due to Covid, we were expecting good business this year, but the re-imposition of restrictions has dashed our hopes,” said Satish Kirar, owner of Indraj Band.