Bombay Caterers Association (BCA) has sought regulations from the government for the survival of the wedding industry that has been severely impacted by COVID-19.
According to Yogesh Chandarana, President, Bombay Caterers Association since there has been absolutely no business since the last one year, the industry has been completely crippled and hence everyone is expecting some direction from the Government for the further course of action.
“Weddings create huge employment on daily basis for uneducated and unskilled people majorly coming from lower class including women and widows where they work for merely 60-70 days to earn their livelihood for the whole year. Weddings are not just celebrations, it’s an industry which provides maximum employment and business in India.
Right from the onset of pandemic, Wedding industry is the only one where its members have helped government directly with risking their own lives. The decorators have built huge mandaps while the caterers have prepared huge amount of food for distribution to the needy,” he added.
Wedding industry directly provides business to Catering, Decoration, Banquets, Fruits and Vegetable Suppliers, Kirana Shops, Dairy Farms, Florists, Beauticians, Event Managers, Jewelers, Bands & Music Party Organisers, Photographers, Invitation Card Manufacturers, Clothing, Sweet Shops, Fast Food Suppliers, Kirana Shops, Dairy Farms, transport, Car service providers, etc. It indirectly also affects many other industries including Travel and Tourism and Farming.
Highlighting some important points, Lalit Jain, spokesperson at Bombay Caterers Association, said, “There is a huge misconception about coronavirus being spread due to weddings which is not correct. Logically, nowadays, industries similar to this like restaurants are allowed to operate at 50% capacity, hotels are allowed to operate at 100% capacity, resorts hosting wedding are allowed to operate at 100% capacity and tourism are allowed to operate at 100% capacity. Similarly, buses and trains are so congested with multiple rotations of people and no sanitisation is done in between. Then why the number of people is restricted in only weddings, where there is always sanitisation done between two events, details of guests can be very easily maintained and the chances for spread of the virus is logically and actually very low as compared to other industries.”
“It is our demand to allow us to conduct functions like other industries with a number of guests according to the size of venues. The authorities have given some relief for restaurants and malls. In normal conditions, the area covered per person is 8 to 10 square feet per person. We request the authorities to raise this limit to 20-25 square feet per person and accordingly, raise the total number of guests directly proportional to the area of the premises and request the government to treat them at par with other industries” adds Jain.
With the heavy restrictions on legal venues, many weddings are conducted at illegal and unidentifiable venues. BCA requests the authorities to define legal and proper venues and give them permission for conducting wedding events with a number of people according to the size of the venue and to take strict actions against illegal and unidentifiable venues. This will help to prevent spread of corona virus.
Satish Kamat, Secretary at Bombay Caterers Association says “In recent times we have met many officials including MPs, Commissioners and Mayor. We got assurance from everyone but no implementation has been done till now. We sincerely hope that the authorities come out with a separate rule set for this industry as early as possible. The revival of this wedding industry will give an immediate boost to the economy as various other industries are dependent on it”.
