Marriage hall owners reject Sindh govt’s new Covid-19 restrictions

KARACHI: Rejecting the fresh curbs imposed by the Sindh government in wake of the fourth Covid-19 wave in the province, the Marriage Halls Association on Friday announced to hold protests against the closure of wedding halls in Sindh province, ARY News reported.

Rana Raees Ahmed, President of All Karachi marriage hall association, expressed displeasure over the Sindh government’s decision and announced protests across the country.

While addressing a press conference, he said that all the marriage halls are abiding by SOPs issued by the Sindh government.

“We strongly condemn this decision. We have convened a meeting of our association,” he said, adding that the emergency meeting will work out a plan of action against the newly imposed restrictions.

Rana Raees said the association will stage protest demonstrations in Karachi in the first phase and threatened that they would expand the scope of their protest.

He has also appealed to the government to reconsider the decision.

Amid a surge in India’s Delta variant cases, the Sindh government today announced to impose fresh curbs on movement, restricting business hours and restaurants operations, and closing down marriage halls and educational institutes.

The decision was made in the provincial task force meeting for COVID-19 headed by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

The meeting decided to restrict business hours for shopping malls and markets between 6:00 am to 6:00 pm besides declaring Friday and Sunday as safe days. Grocery shops, bakeries, and pharmacies will be exempted from the closure.

The marriage halls and other public gatherings and shrines will also be closed down from Monday onwards while restaurants will not be allowed to operate dine-in and dine-out facilities after July 25.