Ban, Baaja, Baraat: Many of 50,000 Andhra, Telangana weddings put off

HYDERABAD: Many of the 50,000 weddings slated for Sunday in Andhra and Telangana, the season's most auspicious day, have been put off as families struggle to deal with demonetisation woes, in particular coping with the list of documents banks need to release funds for marriages. Families are struggling with the groundwork required to avail the Centre-mandated withdrawal limit of Rs 2.5 lakh for weddings.

Cashstrapped banks have been insisting not only on documents such as Aadhar and PAN cards, but also lists of the vendors who will be paid in cash and even affidavits that the vendors receiving cash do not have bank accounts for online transaction or swipe machines.

The complaint is that the "relaxation" on cash withdrawal has turned out to be an eyewash given the list of conditions to fulfil. Should families go around collecting KYC documents of vendors or engage in marriage preparations is the question doing the rounds.

Another complaint is that even after all documents are submitted, banks express inability to pay beyond Rs 1.2 lakh because of the acute shortage of currency. V Chandrika, a resident of Madhapur, said she was forced to postpone her only daughter's wedding scheduled for Sunday as she had no cash in hand.

"I deposited the money I got after selling my house. The money is in my account. But I cannot withdraw it to marry off my only child," she said. Banks say they're simply going by the new rules. "We-'re only making sure the money withdrawn is used for weddings. We're following RBI guidelines. We cannot override the apex bank's orders," said M N Sudhakar, general manager (operations), Andhra Bank.

Astrologers say that after the week, the next auspicious date for weddings will start only after January 15. Add to that the rule that the "relaxation" on cash withdrawal is applicable for weddings held on or before December 30 only.

With little hope demonetisation woes ending any time soon, many fear they will have to skip the next best 'muhurat' as well.

About 20,000 weddings are scheduled for Sunday in Hyderabad. Astrologer and Vedic pundit P Venu Swamy told TOIhe had been asked by at least 30 families to re-schedule the wedding.