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Fund crunch in Madhya Pradesh, beneficiaries of wedding scheme wait for cash

Under the scheme, run by the Directorate of Social Justice and Welfare for the disabled, Rs 48,000 is transferred to the woman’s account, and Rs 3,000 is given to the local bodies that organise the mass marriage function in their respective areas.

At a recent mass marriage in Jhabua. (Express)

Months after they married under the Mukhya Mantri Vivah Evam Nikah Yojana, at least 42,000 beneficiaries in Madhya Pradesh are still waiting for the cash benefit because the government has been unable to allocate funds for the populist scheme.

Under the scheme, run by the Directorate of Social Justice and Welfare for the disabled, Rs 48,000 is transferred to the woman’s account, and Rs 3,000 is given to the local bodies that organise the mass marriage function in their respective areas.

Immediately after coming to power in December last year, the Congress government kept its pre-poll promise and increased the amount under the scheme from Rs 25,000 to Rs 51,000. Nearly 42,000 marriages have taken place after the change of guard in the state, and the number is much more than the corresponding last year under the BJP government.

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This, when no marriages took place under the scheme on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya this year because the poll Model Code of Conduct was in force for the Lok Sabha elections.

Beneficiaries of the marriages that took place before March 31, 2019, have got the cash benefits but not those held since April. The beneficiaries who trek to the directorate offices in Bhopal and respective offices in districts are often told that the money will soon be transferred to their accounts.

Festive offer

Minister for Social Justice and Welfare of the Disabled Lakhan Ghanghoriya told The Indian Express that he is not sure where the money is stuck because it had been allocated to the department after the state Budget.

“Sometimes money from one scheme is diverted to another scheme. If funds for the scheme have been blocked, I will request the Chief Minister to divert funds from somewhere else because the scheme is very successful,’’ he said.

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He said the scheme is very popular and cited examples of Seoni and Rewa where 2,700 and 1,800 marriages took place respectively under one pandal. He said the department had sought Rs 1,200 crore (including for other schemes) and it got Rs 750 crore. He said he would try to streamline the payment adding “the officials and the government can’t block funds for the scheme at any cost”.

Another Congress leader admitted that the government was running on a shoestring budget but it will manage the required funds by “jugaad”.

BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal claimed that the Congress government had closed down certain schemes in the name of review and in some other schemes it was finding it difficult to meet its obligations. He said, on one hand, the beneficiaries have not got money and on the other irregularities were abound, like in Datia where even already married couples with children married again.

First uploaded on: 27-08-2019 at 04:44 IST
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