Sahara Group organises wedding ceremony for 101 couples

Yuvraj greeting couples at 101 marriages performed at Sahara Shaher, Lucknow.

As many as 101 girls from under-privileged sections of society and different religions got married at a mass marriage ceremony conducted by business conglomerate Sahara India Parivar in Lucknow today.

The "Samuhik Vivah Samaroh" is an annual event held at Sahara Shaher in the Uttar Pradesh capital. This year, 89 Hindu, 9 Muslim, 2 Sikh and 1 Christian couple got married at the ceremony.

The ceremony has been organised every year since 2004 and as many as 707 couples have got married this way so far.

Every year, the Sahara Group invites applications from the families of brides and groooms who cannot bear the cost of the wedding themselves. After a verification process, 101 applicants are selected for the ceremony.

According to a press release from the Group, all the arrangements for the wedding, such as food, lodging, clothes and so on are made by it. Each couple is also given a gift package of household articles worth Rs 1 lakh to help them start their life. The gifts include a colour television, refrigerator, cupboard, bed, dressing table , jewelry, clothes and watches. These are delivered to the couple's residence.

The Sahara Group had also made arrangements for the "mandaps", rangoli, chanting of hymns and playing of shehnai at the venue of the ceremony, which was attended by invitees as well as employees of the Group.

The couples were also presented with a special photograph of all the 101 couples, taken with a 1914-made special American Panoramic Kodak still camera which can rotate upto 360 degrees and produce a very sharp image. A similar camera is used to take pictures of all the members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha every term.

Ms Chhabi Roy, mother of Sahara Parivar chairman Subrata Roy, well-known cricketer Yuvraj Singh, film actress Diana Hayden and former India hockey captain Dhanraj Pillai were amongst those present at the ceremony.

NNN