‘Ready to pay 50 percent of the advance money’

Mysore/Mysuru: While people who have booked Choultries (Kalyana Mantapas) by paying advance amount are crying hoarse that the Choultry managements are refusing to refund the money in full, managements of such Choultries have a different story to narrate. “We have suffered huge losses and we are not in a position to refund the money,” they said. 

There are over 85 Choultries in Mysuru with 60 of them located within the city limits and March, April, May is the wedding season and this year, lockdown has hit their business. “We have to pay property tax to the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) every year that comes up to Rs. 6 lakh and we have made an investment in the Choultry up to Rs. 5 crore to Rs. 6 crore. Salaries for employees and workers, security guards, water tax, maintenance, electricity, GST, Income Tax and bank loan instalments all come up to huge expenditure. Where shall we go to fulfil all these,” asked K.R. Sathyanarayana, President of Mysuru Kalyana Mantapa Owners Association. 

Due to lockdown, 60 percent of the people who had planned weddings in March, April and May have cancelled the functions and have performed small ceremonies at their homes. “They are asking for full refund of the money and a few of them have even approached Police Stations lodging complaints against us seeking full refund. Apart from losses, we have to run around to Police Stations,” he rued. 

Sathyanarayana said that an appeal has been made to the Mysuru Deputy Commissioner and the District Minister to ask all the Choultry owners to refund only 50 percent of the advance amount if the weddings are cancelled. “We have also appealed to the Government to pass an order so that half the amount of the advance money is refunded to the people on humanitarian grounds. We are not in a position to refund the full amount,” Sathyanarayana clarified.