Marriage hall owners have expressed reservations over the revised standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), restricting the duration of ceremonies and number of guests.
Speaking to The Express Tribune on Saturday, Punjab Marriage Halls Association (PMHA) President Mian Muhammad Ilyas criticised the federal and provincial governments over slapping new restrictions on marriage and banquet halls due to the coronavirus threat.
“Marriage hall owners reject the NCOC decision of reducing functions’ duration to two hours and limiting the number of guests to 300 for indoor and 500 for outdoor events. As per previous SOPs, the marriage halls have already slashed their operational capacity to half for minimising the risk of coronavirus spread,” he highlighted.
“Without taking stakeholders onboard, the government is making decisions in isolation, which are not acceptable to the marriage hall owners already bearing brunt of the coronavirus induced lockdown. After a prolonged closure of 186 days, the government had allowed marriage halls to resume operation with 50% of their capacity.
The wedding season is expected to pick momentum during last week of October and the government has imposed new restriction,” he lamented and added that wedding halls have booked functions as per previous SOPs and now when the season is about to start the government has reduced the time limit and the number of guests allowed.
Ilyas further highlighted that wedding halls were providing face masks free of cost to their staff and guests as per the government instruction.
“If guests put face masks in their pocket or refuse to wear them, the government should penalise the host instead of the marriage hall management. We can tell guests once or twice but if they cannot wear face mask all the time what can we do,” he said.
Similar reactions were given by several other marriage hall owners after the NCOC, on Friday, issued a notification announcing that wedding functions can only last two hours, and are to end by 10pm. In the wake of the second wave of coronavirus, the government has also reduced the allowed number of guests to 300 at indoor events and 500 outdoor. The NCOC has also warned that marriage halls will be sealed and heavy fines slapped if they violate coronavirus SOPs.
In a recent meeting of the cabinet committee on coronavirus, Punjab Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Social Welfare Basharat Raja underlined the need of strict preventive measure after an increase in coronavirus cases in Sindh. He also hinted at imposition of micro smart lockdowns in high-risk districts and areas.
The meeting highlighted that the province has been witnessing an increase in new coronavirus cases and deaths, especially in Gujranwala, Nankana Sahib and Gujrat, which could be regarded as high-risk districts given an increasing number of new cases.
Raja pointed out that no restriction of SOPs like wearing of masks and social distancing was witnessed in public gatherings across the province so the Punjab health department should formulate new SOPs in this regard and the district administrations should ensure their complete implementation.
“Even in the marriage halls, the SOPs were not being followed as per the agreement, which was raising increased fears of a resurgence of the pandemic,” he maintained and directed the district administrations across the province to ensure implementation of SOPs in marriage halls, educational institutions and public places besides launching a massive public awareness campaign on the media.
Data released by the Punjab Primary and Secondary Health Department’s Coronavirus Monitoring Room showed that 154 new cases of the disease were reported during the past 24 hours (till Saturday morning), following which the total number of coronavirus cases reached 100,428.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2020
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