“Most people in our village are labourers or farmers. When they go to work in the fields, some suffer snake bites, while others are attacked by wild animals. Such accidents happen frequently here,” groom Siddheshwar Pethkar said.
Maharashtra groom insures entire village at his wedding
At the wedding, the groom's family insured nearly 3,500 residents against accidents. The gesture turned a private celebration into a widely appreciated act of community welfare.
The rare gesture drew widespread praise for the groom's family.
A wedding in Maharashtra’s Nanded district turned into an unlikely community welfare drive after the groom’s family gifted accident insurance coverage to nearly an entire village.
During the wedding celebrations of Siddheshwar Pethkar and Manjusha in Bahadurpura village, the Pethkar family insured around 3,500 residents, with each person receiving accident cover worth Rs 1 lakh.
What makes the gesture stand out is not just the scale, but the reason behind it.
“Most people in our village are labourers or farmers. When they go to work in the fields, some suffer snake bites, while others are attacked by wild animals. Such accidents happen frequently here,” groom Siddheshwar Pethkar said.
Bahadurpura, located in Kandhar tehsil of Nanded district, has over 3,600 names on its voter list. According to the family, almost everyone listed has now been covered under the insurance scheme.
The policy covers accidental deaths caused by incidents such as snake bites, lightning strikes, animal attacks, road accidents and even mishaps during daily chores.
“This is purely accident insurance. In case of death due to any such accident, the family will receive Rs 1 lakh,” said Anup Pethkar, the groom’s elder brother, who conceptualised the initiative.
He said the idea came from witnessing the financial struggles faced by villagers after sudden accidents.
“Seeing these hardships, my elder brother felt we should do something from our side to help the community,” Siddheshwar said.
The initiative, it turns out, was not a one-off gesture planned just for social media attention.
Anup said the family had earlier organised an “insurance and helmet” camp in which around 900 people were insured in a single day. During his own wedding, he had also distributed helmets to guests as a road safety measure.
“And today, on my younger brother’s wedding, our entire family wanted everyone to be covered under accident insurance,” he said.
Bride Manjusha Pethkar said the family wanted to turn their wedding into “a small gift” for the village.
“Today, our entire family and both of us are extremely happy,” she said.
The gesture also drew widespread praise on social media, with many users commending the family for stepping in to do what is often seen as the responsibility of the government rather than private citizens.
Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora called the initiative “inspiring”.
"Commendable! A citizen did what the government should have done. In reel era where every action is for engagement on SM, the groom said 'in our culture charity is not announced from rooftops'," one user posted on X.
Another person said, "imagine needing weddings to do what governments promised."
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(Inputs by Kuvarchand Mandle)