Hyderabad: Function halls set to reverberate with band, baajaa aur baraat soon

Hyderabad: With the majority of weddings being cancelled, put off, or either done in a low-key at indoors, the function and banquet halls wear a deserted look. Now after the State government lifted the lockdown they hope that unlock and new guidelines may help their survival. Most of the owners said that as the new guidelines will be issue by the government, they would start booking for marriages and other functions.

The wedding industry has been affected since the pandemic and the business is struggling to survive. As most 'shaadis' are to be held after the month of Ramzan, a hectic business is set in motion far ahead of the season that spans three months, but the weddings were put on hold.

"During lockdown, the government put restrictions on large gatherings and allowed only 40 members to attend any function including marriage. And even now the lockdown is lifted but no new guidelines were issued on the number of gatherings, we are not sure about the number of people to gather in functions. As soon as the new guidelines issue, we would start bookings," said Osman Misri, owner of Noori Place Function hall at Bandlaguda road in Chandrayangutta.

The function halls are ready for bookings even with least 300 member's function by following Covid-19 protocols. "The halls are provided with sanitisation, even we are placing the chairs with 2-feet space and the waiters are wearing the safety protection like facemasks, gloves, and a headgear. We are following the protocols and the rest lies in the hands of people," said Majid Ali manager of Rose function hall.

According to reports, during the wedding season more than 9,000 weddings take place in the City and daily at least 500 weddings are performed. But now in the lockdown and rising cases many families have optioned to postpone or to delay the weddings.

With a rough estimate, there are around 800 function halls in the City, and in season at least 600 weddings would have been performed daily, but now the function halls wear a deserted look and some of the function halls in the City have also converted into a temporary Covid Care Centres.

Presently, one in three families were booking a hall for the marriage, as the guest list turned limited and they optioned to hold functions at their homes. "On the first day of unlock, several people came for bookings, but we are not sure about the gathering of members in function. Most of them have booked the hall for next month with 500 members," said Baba Khan, an owner of the City function hall in Old City.

My sister's marriage is on June 23, for which we a function hall in Bandlaguda for afternoon hours with a guest list of 80 members, but now as the lockdown is lifted, we plan to hold the function in the evening hours with more number of people," said Imran Khan, a resident at Falaknuma.