Six days to go for a wedding in Margao and the father of the groom is speechless and baffled by the Deputy Collector’s order to his family and the clauses in the order.
“We asked for sound permission for the wedding to be held at a hall in Margao from 7 pm to 10 pm. The Deputy Collector asked us to get a note from Excise where we had to state how much alcohol we’re buying in terms of number of bottles and the name of vendor and get a NOC from the venue owner and then the order would be granted to permit sound as it has some strange clauses,” asserts the groom’s 72-year old father who is scared to reveal his name but gives us a copy of the order.
The Order issued by Deputy Collector, Ajit Panchwadkar, states that sound is permitted but also the venue may restrict entry to two gates and cover the entire proceeding besides not to be seen from the outside and the most baffling clause is that no participants may bring bags to the venue. Every woman in Margao is baffled that the collector has passed such orders.
“Every woman has the right to carry whatever she desires and women need their bags at a wedding. Also mothers carry needs of an infant from baby food to diapers and how can the government restrict bags to a wedding. This is disturbing for the government to make statements like this and definitely infringes privacy,” claimed Jenia Fernandes, who tells us that her bag to a wedding holds everything from makeup to sanitizer to wet wipes and she wonders how does she take all that if the government disallows bags to a wedding.
“These are precautionary measures that are taken and we’re kept in the loop also and advised to ensure it’s followed. Maybe done since the tourist season peaks in December and the crowds can be better handled. Also bags can hold weapons and maybe used to sneak in some illegal or spurious alcohol so hence the orders,” asserts Margao Town PI CL Patil but denies the new clause has anything to do with the code of conduct that may be enforced since elections could be round the corner.
Why is this government so anti people in its ways? Even the code of conduct could have been advanced. In 2012 also the government ruined Goa’s Christmas and December season which the early timings. Now cash is hard to get because of demonetisation and these orders have these absurd demands to cordon a wedding, cover the venue and add metal detectors. Who’s paying for all this is my question?” said Steven D’Souza, who’s an event planner within Margao and works in weddings in the city.
Also Jeremy Dias, who recently tied the knot, questioned the authorities on why so much hassle in marriage. “Cops can’t curb anti socials drinking and drug abuse within Margao at the Margao garden or Monte steps but our weddings in Clube Harmonia and other venues in the vicinity can be disrupted. Even declaring booze to the excise is so absurd, I told them we’re using our existing alcohol collection and they demanded bills asking us to prove ownership of alcohol in our home, this is absurd,” stated Jeremy.
But Ajit Panchwadkar washed his hands clean on this matter by stating that the order is a prescribed format by the Pollution Control Board that discusses security measures though the permission is only for sound.
“They have given us this format based on amendments mentioned in the Madhya Pradesh Noise Pollution Control Act and hence we copy paste that order without changes. It’s not done to enrage anybody particular but it’s a prescribed format that I don’t have the permission to tweak or edit, hence we started issuing it this way,” stated Ajit Panchwadkar.
