Marriages put off as arranging cash becomes headache

Families with upcoming weddings had thought that the RBI’s announcement to allow withdrawal up to Rs 2.5 lakh would bring succor to them post demonetisation. However, their hopes were dashed as cash-strapped banks have failed to disburse the amount to families even after 50 days of the move.

Parents of would-be brides and groom are shuttling from one bank to other in despair everyday, forcing them to postpone the weddings. The situation even after 50 days of demonetisation does not seem to have improved.

Arvind Saxena, a resident of Civil Lines said: “I had plans for a big fat Indian wedding for my daughter but cash crunch left me for nowhere. I postponed the marriage in belief that things would get better but I am still not able to arrange the adequate amount of funds for the arrangements.”

Sharing his plight, an emotional Praveen Khandelwal, whose daughter had to get married on January 4, 2017 said: “All my planning have gone in vain. I still had to pay to the decorators, caterers, musicians, etc. But I am not able to do the same because of lack of new currency notes.”

“I am talking to the parents of the groom to fix a suitable date so that money could be arranged for,” he added.

People alleged that many banks are still either cashless or flooded with unprecedented crowd, forcing them to look for other options. Many of them said they are trying to borrow money from private lenders but they too are short of cash.

“The government has fixed Rs 2.5 lakh ceiling of withdrawal for a marriage. It’s just a peanut if we take catering, tent, band and other aspects of a marriage ceremony into consideration. Shopping has already been delayed as we do not have new currency notes with us. Apart from that,the would-be bride has to be given furniture, clothes and other household items but we are unable to do so,” lamented Ram Das of Malikpur village.

Giving or taking large sums of money isn’t possible till date because old notes are banned and new notes are still scarce. 

Saurav Jain of Modal Town said: “My wedding planner gave me a timeline of one month to make full payment. Till date, I have not been able to pay the full amount.” “Due to delay in the payment, the planner has refused to make arrangements for my daughter’s function. Our social prestige is at stake,” he added. “Using debit and credit cards for shopping is not a feasible option for us as we prefer to buy items from the local markets and cash has been the only mode of transaction for ages,” said Mamta Kumar, whose daughter got married in November. Shivani Khurana, a resident of Kirti Nagar said: “I had deposited all my earnings in the banks and now I am running from pillar to post to get my own money back. My family is still in the race of arranging new currency for the wedding” she added.