PESHAWAR: The owners of marriage halls here on Tuesday demanded of the government to lift ban on holding of functions in the halls as it resulted in a financial crisis for them and would left thousands of workers jobless.

Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club, Wedding Halls Association provincial president Khalid Ayub said that there were at least 600 marriage halls in the province where thousands of workers were earning livelihood for their families.

He said that closure of wedding halls deprived workers of their livelihoods. “We expect the government will allow us to start earning our livelihood otherwise the owners of marriage halls will start protest demonstrations from June 19,” he added.

Flanked by other office-bearers of the association including Arbab Farooq, Rahat Akbar and others, Mr Ayub said that there were 170 marriage halls in Peshawar that were paying all relevant taxes and following the government laws but they had been closed for the last four months due to Covid-19 pandemic.

He claimed that owners of the halls suffered approximately Rs2.5 billion losses due to routine expenditures including rent, staff wages and utility bills during the lockdown.

“We have paid salaries to our employees till June 2020 but government has not supported us so far at least to afford the current expenses,” said Mr Ayub. He said that the owners were no longer in the position to pay wages to workers.

He said that the lockdown not only affected the owners but also the people associated directly or indirectly with the marriage halls including waiters, drivers, security staff, kitchen workers and traders, who were supplying food items to them.

Mr Ayub said that government allowed opening of other sectors but restaurants, wedding halls and schools were still kept closed without any future planning that forced the people to start raising voice for their rights.

He said the owners of marriage halls would follow Standard Operating Procedures strictly. He urged the government to allow functions in the halls with thorough check on them to ensure social distancing and other safety measures.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2020