Onset of Omicrion: Travel restrictions lead to cancellation of functions

Mahesh Sharma

Ahmedgarh/Raikot, December 15

Recent international travel restrictions prompted by the onset of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have dealt a lethal blow to people associated with event management, marriage palaces, tent services, catering and light and sound.

Many NRIs, who had planned to travel to their native places for attending their family functions, have cancelled their visits due to unpredictable travel protocol ahead.

Numerous bookings for social functions, earlier scheduled to be held in January have been cancelled.

As functions are not expected to be held in the near future, hopes of earning money during the winter season have shattered and advance investments have become redundant.

Dr Sanjiv Ahluwalia, an alumnus of Punjab Agriculture University, who had earlier requested his friends and relatives to ‘reserve’ a night for participating in celebrations on occasion of his father’s birthday was pained to text invitees the message – “My trip to India stands cancelled because of the Omicron variant. The restrictions on international travel are bound to get more stringent. So, it is better to be safe rather than getting stuck in a possible lockdown scenario. Feeling sad and frustrated.”

This is not the only case of cancellation of invitation. Many locals have reported cancellation of invitations received earlier from families expecting NRI guests and hosts.

Gopal Goyal, a caterer from Raikot, informed that at least 26 bookings for providing services in January were either cancelled or postponed till next date to be fixed after restrictions on international travel were lifted permanently. Cancellation of visits of some NRI family members was cited to be the main reason behind cancellation or postponement of the scheduled programmes.

Rishi Joshi, organiser of a light and sound group, claimed that 10 programmes, booked for January had been cancelled on similar pretext. He had to bear substantial loss as singers and artistes, engaged for the purpose, were not ready to adjust advance amounts for any future programme, Joshi added.