Wedding bliss on hold for Commonwealth Games

Critics of the Commonwealth Games have yet another reason to pan the event which will ensure the next couple of months are just not the right time to get married in Delhi.

The 220 community halls run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) are perpetually in demand for Indian weddings, which are traditionally crowded and elaborate affairs.

Thanks to the October 3-14 Games, 49 of those halls in the city of 14 million people have been earmarked for paramilitary forces, while another 11 will house Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials in the lead-up and during the event, according to local media.

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Newspaper reports claimed the Games had forced cancellations of 400-odd bookings in the halls, but the MCD dismissed the allegations.

"This is exaggeration and they did not even bother to check the facts with us," MCD spokesman Deep Mathur said on Tuesday.

"Requested by Delhi Police, we booked 49 halls for the paramilitary forces back in June. Only five bookings were made before that and we returned them their deposit."

Mathur conceded the paucity of space may prompt Delhi citizens to explore other options.

"So many banquet halls have mushroomed in and around the city and the 800-plus parks we have are also used for wedding parties," said MCD leader in the house Subhash Arya.

"I don't foresee a major problem there."

Preparations for the Games have caused a number of headaches for both organisers and residents, with construction around the six venue clusters and a city-wide beautification drive leaving large piles of rubble all over the Indian capital.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit visited some of the construction sites last week to oversee efforts to clear the debris and has ordered civic agencies to finish the clean-up by the end of this month after the initial August 10 deadline was blown.