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Few takers for UP govt’s marriage aid scheme in Kanpur
The social welfare department has stopped giving marriage aid. However, the backward class welfare department continues with a number of riders introduced in aftermath of the scam.
Due to stringent mechanism put in place after the August 2021 scam, there are fewer takers for government’s scheme for the backward class women that entitles them to a monetary relief of ₹20,000 for marriage.
In August 2021, it came to the fore that lekhpals verified applications of women who were either non-existent or their credentials were misused to get marriage aid in their name. A total of ₹7 crore were siphoned off by the lekhpals in connivance with officials of social welfare department within a year.
Subsequently, the social welfare department has stopped giving marriage aid. However, the backward class welfare department continues with a number of riders introduced in aftermath of the scam.
This year, the government has released a budget for 1713 women of backward class in Kanpur, but only 49 women have applied for the aid so far and only 13 applications have been verified and approved, said an official of the department.
The situation is bad from the last year when 142 women were given aid when the budget available was for 829 women. As a result, the ₹1 crore was not spent and had to be surrendered to backward class welfare directorate after the end of financial year, he said.
“We are trying that more and more women eligible for this aid take benefits of this scheme. Last year we had to surrender ₹1 crore because of less applications, this year the number has further gone down,” said Komil Dwivedi, district backward class welfare officer.
“Three people were arrested in fake marriage scam on August 30, 2021. One was Shiv Govind, a resident of Lucknow, another was Pradeep Saini, in charge of the marriage grant board of social welfare department, and a broker Shekhar Sachan,” said inspector Harmeet Singh, who as then SHO of Barra police station and busted the fake marriages racket.
He said, Shiv Govind posed as a groom for the fake applicant whom Sachan brought in, and Saini dealt with the disbursal of aid meant to help economically weak women.
Further investigation revealed that it was not just one case but an ecosystem that was at work.
Later, the district magistrate Alok Tiwari set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by ADM, finance and revenue, Basant Agarwal, to look into the scam.
The SIT report stated that there were 730 fake applications from Sadar, Ghatampur, Bilhaur and Narwal tehsils and in each of the case the money was withdrawn.
Further investigation revealed another 600 cases from Maharajpur, Bidhnu and Kalyanpur.
“The lekhpals and block development officers verified the applications for marriage aid and family welfare,” said an official who was part of the SIT.
He said, 22 lekhpals were suspended along with a tehsildar. An FIR was lodged against the then social welfare officer.
Following this the social welfare department stopped releasing the grant.
