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Over 2400 poor girls in Prayagraj to get married with govt help
With the Lok Sabha elections over, the work of speeding up the implementation of state government welfare schemes has started in earnest. After almost three months of the new financial year, the social welfare department has been given the target of solemnising mass marriages for 2024-25.
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PRAYAGRAJ: Marriages of for over 2400 couples will be solemnised with the support of social welfare department in Prayagraj this year.
With the Lok Sabha elections over, the work of speeding up the implementation of state government welfare schemes has started in earnest.
After almost three months of the new financial year, the social welfare department has been given the target of solemnising mass marriages for 2024-25.
This time the department will get 2,484 poor girls of Prayagraj district married. This target is among the highest given to the department for the district in recent years barring the last two years, as per district officials of the state social welfare department.
In the last financial year (2023-24), 2,734 marriages were to be conducted, but due to some problems the target could not be achieved and the department could solemnise 1,898 marriages only while in financial year 2022-23 also the department could perform only 2,406 marriages only against the set target of 2,734. This time the department has started preparations to meet and even surpass the set target, they maintain.
“After getting the target of mass marriages, applications have been sought from all tehsils of the district. We will conduct all the marriages in a phased manner and with complete transparency,” informed Pragya Pandey, district social welfare officer, Prayagraj.
This time the applications received for mass marriages will also be thoroughly probed. Till now, applications received at tehsil level were accepted. After the controversy over the marriage scheme being misused by including ineligible beneficiaries in certain districts in past years, now a nodal officer will be appointed in all districts, including Prayagraj, who will scrutinise and recheck details given in all the applications. The applications will also be matched online.
Officials claim that not a single eligible person will be left out, but efforts will be made to ensure that the government scheme is not misused at all.
In the Ballia event held at Maniyar Inter College on January 25, 2024 around 537 marriages took place, of which irregularities were found in 240 marriages. So far 16 people have been arrested for fraud and forgery in arranging the marriages, while five government employees of various departments, including the social welfare department, have also been suspended.
The state government started the mass wedding scheme ‘Mukhyamantri Samuhik Vivah Yojana’ in October 2017 to promote communal and social harmony, . Under this scheme wedding programmes are conducted according to the rituals being practiced in various communities and religions. Another objective of the scheme is to do away with extravagance in wedding ceremonies. Families of all communities having an annual income of ₹2 lakh from all sources are covered under this scheme.
Under this scheme, re-marriage of widows, abandoned and divorced women are also performed.
An assistance amount of ₹35,000 is transferred to the woman’s account and ₹10,000 is spent on the material required for the marriage ceremony like clothes, toe rings, anklets and utensils while ₹6,000 is spent per couple on food, pandal, furniture, drinking water, lighting and other necessary arrangements. Thus a total amount of ₹51,000 is provisioned per marriage. Registration of the marriage too is done on the spot.
