Owners demand reopening of wedding halls in KP.

PESHAWAR -- The owners of marriage halls here on Tuesday demanded of the government to lift ban on holding of functions in the halls as it resulted in a financial crisis for them and would left thousands of workers jobless.

Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club, Wedding Halls Association provincial president Khalid Ayub said that there were at least 600 marriage halls in the province where thousands of workers were earning livelihood for their families.

He said that closure of wedding halls deprived workers of their livelihoods. 'We expect the government will allow us to start earning our livelihood otherwise the owners of marriage halls will start protest demonstrations from June 19,' he added.

Flanked by other office-bearers of the association including Arbab Farooq, Rahat Akbar and others, Mr Ayub said that there were 170 marriage halls in Peshawar that were paying all relevant taxes and following the government laws but they had been closed for the last four months due to Covid-19 pandemic.

He claimed that owners of the halls suffered approximately Rs2.5 billion losses due to routine expenditures including rent, staff wages and utility bills during the lockdown.

'We have paid salaries to...