Harried parents try to put off weddings in Vijayawada

Vijayawada: Money that was kept aside at home for the marriage of children has fallen victim of the government’s demonetisation move.

Around 150 engagements and marriages are scheduled in Vijayawada city alone in December, January and February.

A Group-I officer told this correspondent that she had kept around Rs 35 lakh in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations for a wedding. Now she is worried about converting the same.

Many pundits said that they have been asked to postpone the muhurthams as families tried to find ways to overcome the new financial measures.

Jonnabhatla Shivarama Shastri, a muhurath pundit from Guntur told this correspondent that parents had started calling him since Wednesday morning, to change the muhurthams. “Their children are already engaged and their weddings are going to take place,” he said and adding that the conversion of money has become a major hurdle for them.

Several parents are running from pillar to post either to postpone or to cancel the dates fixed for the marriages of their children.

“We have been left with no choice but to request the owners of the marriage function halls to postpone the dates,” Mulukutla Vinod, a resident of Seetharampuram said.