A huge rush of over 500 people seeking marriage permission applications was witnessed on Thursday at the office of the sub-divisional officer of Dhanbad on the first day of the weeklong state lockdown.

The applicants were crowding the office of Surendra Prasad since early morning, violating Covid protocols .

Santosh Kumar, a resident of Putki who arrived at the SDO office seeking an NOC for the marriage of her niece, said, “I had applied for the permission on April 16 itself and today arrived for getting permission and I never imagined that there would be such a huge rush at the office.”

Nirajan Kumar, former councilor of Ward Number of 35 of Jharia who also arrived at the SDO office along with a few residents of the locality said, “Being connected to common people we can’t deny the request for help and came here along with a milkman of our locality and one of my cousin brothers.”

“Owing to the huge rush of permission seekers, the counter at SDO office has been closed and a notice was stuck asking all permission seekers to rush to their respective circle offices to obtain permission,” said Kumar and added that as the post of Jharia circle officer is lying vacant, he is not sure whether he will be able to obtain permission at the right time.