LAHORE: The Marriage Halls Association has demanded permission form the government for reopening their business which was closed due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Members of the association met Punjab Minister for Industries and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal on Monday. During the meeting, Mian Ilyas, the president of the association, said, “We have always abided by the policies and directives of the government whether that was of one dish or the timings. Now we request to let the marriage halls be opened and with less people and standard operating procedures (SOPs) and we will abide by the government’s policy.”
The members of the association said that in case the government does not allow the opening of marriage halls, then it should return back one year’s tax to the hall owners and provide funds for the salaries of the staff working in the marriage halls as 4.2 million people were suffering due to the closure of marriage halls.
The association demanded that the gas and electricity bills should be waived off for the period they had remained closed as they had no source of earning.
The minister said that the government was not in a position to take such a huge risk. “We are facing a critical situation in the country regarding corona virus and we cannot overlook the safety measures for this pandemic. We will look into the suggestions of the association about reopening halls with SOPs and less people,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention here that according to the list issued by Lahore Development Authority (LDA) there are only nine approved marriage halls and marquees in Lahore whereas unapproved marriage halls and marquees are 151, while 164 are considered to be illegal.
