Wedding dress business badly hit in Kashmir Valley

Srinagar, Oct. 14 : The recent turbulence in the Kashmir valley which saw curfews, Bandhs (closures) and agitations affecting normal life over Amarnath land row has affected traders specializing in wedding garments.

Many of the already scheduled weddings had been either cancelled or performed in an austere manner.

Local traders had bought various wedding dresses or clothes material from other States in advance, anticipating good sales during the season. But following the cancellation of wedding ceremonies they have failed to sell off their stock and recover their investments.

"We had done all our bookings. Our personal business has undergone huge losses of nearly about 20-21 lakh (about two million) rupees because of the problem of land acquisition and curfew. We bring fresh stock of clothes in January and February, get new Lehngas stitched, which takes around six months to get ready for the showroom," said Asif Bhat, a shopkeeper.

Many shopkeepers, dealing in the special wedding garments, had to return the advance payments from customers. They lament the fact that the sales this year could not be anywhere close to that witnessed last year.

"In comparison to last year's sales, we have undergone loss of about 70 per cent because of the strike. October is the wedding season. We hoped that all of our bookings that we did in the past two months would be recovered. But we incurred losses. Now the people, who earlier used to wear Lehngas during the weddings, prefer to wear simple wedding suits," said Tagvish Ahmed, another shopkeeper.

The brides and bridegrooms, who earlier thought of wearing the specially designed dress on wedding day, are also dejected due to non-availability of a wide special dress material for weddings.

"These days, the fashion of wearing Lehngas and Sherwanis has captured the minds of every bride and groom. It is their earnest desire to wear Lehngas and Sherwanis on their wedding day. But due to the recent agitations, the shopkeepers could not buy enough stock from outside. The brides and grooms could not buy dresses as per their desire," said Afrida Dar, a customer.

Most of the marriages have been celebrated in an austere fashion over the past three and half months. By Pavez Butt

ANI