Beltangady, 01 May 2015: One-hundred-forty-three couples were wedded during the mass wedding programme organized by Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala, here for the consecutive 44th year on Thursday April 30 evening.
Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade presented wedding dresses to the couples at his ancestral home here on Thursday morning.
The nuptials were held as per the customs of respective castes of couples. Twenty-three inter-caste couples and twenty-six couples of SC were wedded in the mass wedding programme.
The state backward classes welfare department chief secretary Shalini Rajnish said that the state administration awards Rs 50,000 to inter-caste couple and Rs 1 lac to SC couple. Its objective is to eradicate caste system and to bring about equality in the society, said Shalini.
MLA K Vasant Bangera and Sudhir Jain conveyed best wishes to the newly-wedded couple.
Veerendra Heggade in his presidential address said that the simple wedding ceremonies save on extravagant celebrations. He also advised the newly-wedded couples to lead responsible marital life, never ever think of divorce, advised Heggade.
Hemavati V Heggade, Asha Mangaluru, D Harshendra Kumar, Supriya Harshendra Kumar, Rashmi Jain and CDPO Puttaswamy were present.