RULING politicians in New Delhi have condemned increasingly extravagant weddings that waste vast amounts of food and cause traffic chaos in showy displays of wealth.
Congress party legislators passed a resolution yesterday vowing to hold “simple, sober” weddings after one party member hosted several days of celebrations for his son’s marriage at a reported cost of $40m (£24.90m).
Congress said in a statement that it had “expressed its concern over the lavish spending in social functions including marriages. The present trend is making lives of the common man burdensome.”
Indian weddings are famous for their grand scale with multi-course feasts, decorated horses, brass bands and huge tents arranged to entertain hundreds or even thousands of guests.
But Delhi’s chief minister Sheila Dikshit told reporters that the events were getting out of hand in the city, where professional classes have reaped the benefit of the country’s recent rapid economic growth.
She said that “one spends about 30 minutes at the function but getting there can take about four hours” due to traffic congestion as wedding tents are often erected blocking roads and as guests fight for parking space.
“The kind of traffic jams and parking mess these mega-functions cause can make it difficult to rush a patient to hospital,” she said. “It is problem that has been on our mind for quite some time now.”
Dikshit said she would order police to enforce all laws during the “wedding season”, which is currently at its height in Delhi before the heat of the summer sets in.
The wedding said to have cost $40m (£24.90m) united two influential Delhi families in a spectacular manner that shocked even veteran observers.
Newspapers reported in detail how the groom received a helicopter from the bride’s family, 1,000 workers took 40 days to prepare the venue, 100 dishes were served, and roads leading to the function were bedecked with flowers.
