Aurangabad, Nov 10:
The second wedding season of this year is days away. However, the district administration has not yet given permission for the band artists and wedding processions. As a result, 450 band pathaks in the district and about 7,000 artists are left unemployed. The artists said that there is no other means to earn bread for their families and they were inching towards starvation.
The wedding season is starting from November 27. Wedding halls have started getting bookings, but the band pathaks that doubled the joy of wedding have not yet been allowed to play in the procession. There is still uncertainty as to whether the administration will give permission. There were no weddings in April, May, and June. This hit the marriage industry hard. This caused huge loss to band artists, light-men and horse-cart owners. According to band artists there are a large number of uneducated people employed in this industry and cannot do any other job. Many of them are selling vegetables, working the farms and hotels. According to the information received from Aurangabad City Band Association, there are 450 small and big band pathaks in the district. Of these, 32 major bands are in the city. Each band pathak consists of 10 to 35 artists. Only 15 bands are registered. In all, there are about 7,000 artists in the district. The lockdown cost each band about Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. Overall, the band pathaks sustained loss of Rs 9 crore.
Permission denied only in the district
"Performances and bands pathaks are allowed everywhere in the state. A limit of 20 artists has been set for the performance. We agitated for the band performances to be allowed, but to no avail" said, Ashok More president, Aurangabad City Band Association
Families starving
The artists said, Everybody knows that since lockdown came into force in March, not a single wedding function took place in the district. It is now the second wedding season. All our savings have dried up. Now we do not have enough to feed our families and now we are gradually inching towards starvation.”