The manner in which the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) is sealing marriage mandaps (venues) in the city following Orissa High Court orders, people here will find it extremely difficult to get a venue at affordable price for the ensuing marriage season.
After it sealed 25 mandaps in April this year apparently for not meeting the requisite norms, the CMC has rejected the renewal applications of 45 others after physically vetting their facilities. This leaves with only about another hundred mandaps to cater to the marriage rush of December and January next.
“These applications were rejected after it was ascertained that the mandaps do not have adequate parking spaces in their premises to host a wedding feast in which a large number of guests will gather,” said CMC Commissioner Gyana Das on Monday.
At least 113 mandaps were issued notices earlier this year for renewal of their licences after it was known that many of the mandaps were functioning without valid licences.
The CMC action came following an order passed by the HC in March this year. Converting a letter petition into a PIl, a Division Bench headed by Justice Indrajit Mahanti had issued the orders. The petition had alleged that for lack of parking spaces, the roads adjacent to these mandaps face acute traffic problems during the marriage season.
Interestingly, following the CMC’s recent action, the axe has fallen on all the 14 marriage mandaps located in the vicinity of the satellite city of Markat Nagar developed by the Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) two decades ago.