Amravati: South Indian actress Navneet Kaur
and local MLA Ravi Rana exchanged wedding vows at a mass
wedding ceremony in which 3611 other couples also tied the
nuptial knot in this town in Vidarbha region on Wednesday.
The ceremony had a touch of Bollywood glamour as actor
Vivek Oberoi donated utensils to 1100 couples.
The community marriage function, billed as one of the
largest, saw Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavan,
Industries Minister Narayan Rane, Amravati guardian minister
Ramkrishna Vikhe Patil, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and Sahara India
Pariwar chief Subroto Roy blessing the newly-weds.
The colourful ceremony, held at the Science Core ground
under a huge shamiana, was witnessed by thousands of people
from Amravati and adjoining areas. Most of the couples were
from lower middle class and adjoining districts and villages.
Dressed in a maroon ghagra-choli with gold and diamond
jewellery, Navneet Kaur, Amravati`s new `bahu`, was seen
accepting greetings from people. Ravi sported a cream coloured
Jodhpuri suit with golden embroidery and turban. They walked
on the ramp. Baba Ramdev blessed the couple as Pandit Devdutta
Sharma chanted vedic mantras to complete the wedding ceremony.
The `baraat` procession of grooms led by Rana, who was
sitting in a horse-drawn buggy, started from Dussehra Maidan
and reached the Science Core ground.
Altogether 2443 Hindu couples, 739 Buddhists, 150
Muslims, 15 Christians, 13 visually impaired and pardhis and
tribals got married in the ceremony.
Chavan lauded the idea of community marriage and said
such social ventures needs to be encouraged to save
unnecessary expenditure.
PTI
