A voluntary organisation has organised weddings for 200 poor couples in the state.
Almost three years after a devastating flood destroyed their lives, poor residents in the Kashmir Valley have finally found a reason to celebrate.
In a first of its kind a voluntary organisation has organised weddings for 200 poor couples in the state who were forced to abandon their plans to tie the knot following the floods in 2014. Many of them were rendered homeless after the floods destroyed their homes and left them unemployed.
The initiative has helped many like Suhail Abbas and Shubeena realise their dream after an almost three-year hiatus. The couple had got their wedding cards printed when the devastating floods destroyed their village in Baramulla rendering them homeless.
"The floods have rendered us jobless. There is no work in our village. We are totally jobless for the last four years," Mr Abbhas said, highlighting how the floods have affected his life.
Shubeena added that their marriage would have still remained a dream had the Jafferi council not given them a helping hand. "It was the committee members who came to our house," she said.
The volunteers went door-to-door in remote areas of the Valley to identify girls and boys between the age of 25 and 35 from poor families who are looking to tie the knot. All the expenses for the wedding were borne by the council- apart from the Rs 40,000 spent on each couple, the council also provided household goods like cupboards, blankets and utensils.
"I was engaged for the last four years. Finally, I have married. It was very difficult when we were not able to marry. We have greatly benefitted by this initiative," acknowledged Mehsara, who also benefited from the initiative.
Jafferi Council, the organisation behind the initiative, maintained that the initiative was taken to help the poor realise their dream. "We organise marriages of all those people who are really helpless and have nobody to support them. Our volunteers go out and identify such couples," said Haji Musadiq Hussain Manhas, Chairman of Jafferi Council for Jammu and Kashmir.
The 2014 floods had a devastating effect on the people of Kashmir. Nearly 150 people were killed in the floods in Jammu and Kashmir in September, 2014. There are flood victims who are yet to come to terms with the loss, and that's precisely why many marriages are yet to materialise.
It is under these circumstances that such initiative from Jafferi Council go a long way to help the needy people.