Haryana banquet hall owners seek more relaxations

Nitish Sharma
Tribune News Service
Ambala, September 8

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Reeling under losses due to the Covid restrictions, banquet hall owners and people associated with the wedding industry are seeking more relaxations and clear guidelines regarding night events from the government.

The people associated with the industry say that after shradh, they are expecting fresh bookings for October, November and December and so the number of guests should be allowed according to the capacity of the palace or banquet hall.

Ajay Baweja, a caterer and banquet operator, said “The pandemic has hit the banquet and catering industry hard and people are struggling to keep the business afloat. There were a large number of bookings for April and May but they got cancelled due to the Covid restrictions and we had to refund the money. As per the last guideline, the permissible limit of guests have been increased from 50 to 100, which will come into effect from September 21, but we request the government to relax the number further to 50 per cent of the size of the banquet hall. So, if a banquet hall has a capacity of 500 people, then 250 should be allowed.”

There are nearly 125 banquet halls and marriage palaces in Ambala Cantonment and City.

Meanwhile, Sudarshan Singh Sehgal, president of Haryana Marriage Palace and Banquet Association, said, “Not only banquet owners, but allied businesses, including caterers, decorators, waiters, photographers, light and sound service providers are also feeling the heat.”

“The banquets have taken heavy loans from the banks, which has to be repaid even if there was no business. There are fixed expenditures, including power charges, maintenance, salaries and other taxes. The big palaces can’t survive in such a situation and they would be forced to shut their business. The industry is going through a bad phase. However, there will be fresh bookings soon and the government should consider our demands and grant more relaxations,” he added.