Saloni Sidana, Vijayawada Sub Collector, and her batchmate Ashish Vashishta, a Madhya Pradesh cadre officer, tied the knot at the office of Bhind Additional District Magistrate, Madhya Pradesh, last Monday in a simple ceremony attended by their parents and close relatives.
They paid Rs 500 as court fee. The couple joined their official duties in two days. However, their Rs 500-wedding made news as it happened soon after demonetisation.
Saloni, says their decision was in no way related to beating the demonetisation move, as reported by the media. “They should have at least checked with us before writing. It was not about the money. We wanted to do it in a very simple manner. Everyone has a right to choose the way they want to get married; people should respect their decision,” she says.
“We wanted to get married before our postings. Ashish joined duty first and soon submitted application in the court for our wedding. By then, I too was posted. When the dates came, he was posted in Bhind and I in Vijayawada. That’s all. It has nothing to do with cash crunch,” says Saloni, adding, “I don’t understand why people are making an issue out of it. Even our parents were very supportive.”
Born to an agriculturist dad and a homemaker mom, Saloni, who hails from Jalalabad, cleared the CSE in her first attempt, securing 74th rank. The 2014 batch officers met and fell in love at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy for Administration in Mussoorie, where they were trained.
