Uttar Pradesh Social Welfare Minister Asim Arun said that a maximum of 100 weddings can be held at any event organized under the chief minister’s mass marriage scheme.
He added that marriage registration will be done at the venue and the newlyweds will be given certificates and photos after the ceremony.
The steps taken by the state government come in the wake of a recent case of fraud in a mass wedding in Ballia district, in which 240 ineligible people signed up for the benefits of the ‘Mukhyamantri Samoohik Vivaah Yojana’.
People who were already married allegedly got married again during the show.
So far, police have arrested 16 people for arranged marriages, including officials from the social welfare department.
Speaking to PTI on Saturday, Arun said: “Now, no more than 100 weddings will be held in a normal mass marriage program. If the minister or any other special guest comes for such an event and the district magistrate is present in person event, then it will be licensed to host more than 100 weddings.”
In addition to this, registration of every marriage will now be done at the venue and marriage certificates will be issued immediately. Photographs of the bride and groom will be taken and all ceremonies and rituals will be completed and recorded on the computer,” he said.
“The details of each newlywed couple will be linked with DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) and Aadhaar,” the minister added.
Arun, also a former IPS officer, said that to prevent irregularities in group marriages, it will be the responsibility of the village secretary (gram sachiv) and lekhpal at the local level to check whether men and women participating in the scheme are already married.
He pointed out that as per the existing rules, the verification responsibility lies with the block level officials.
“The state government is now considering asking the district magistrate’s office and the deputy director of the social welfare department to re-verify a certain percentage of people after verification at the block level. The directorate-level officers of the social welfare department will also have some responsibility for random verification. These points have been included in the manual so that violations are prevented at all costs,” he said.
The issue of irregularities in the mass marriage scheme in Ballia was also echoed during the budget session of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on February 9, with Lalji Verma of the Samajwadi Party raising the issue in the House.
Responding to this, the Social Welfare Minister said in the House that the aim of the scheme is to ensure that the wedding of the daughter of any family should be celebrated with grand ceremony.
Arun added that the Yogi Adityanath government was working to “effectively deal with corrupt elements”.
“Three police officers have also been arrested in the Balia case. Strict action will be taken against any corrupt person, whether he is an official or a broker.”
“On the one hand, the thief has been caught, and on the other hand, the lock (the entire system) has been strengthened,” the minister added.
Kumar Prashant, director of the social welfare department, told Press Trust of India (PTI), “Thousands of couples get married every year under the group marriage scheme and there are no reports of any irregularities. But after receiving reports about Following complaints of such irregularities in Ballia, the department is currently closely investigating the incidents in various districts.”
“Multiple levels of screening and thorough investigation have been arranged for each case,” Prashant added.
During the Ballia event held at Maniyar Inter College on January 25, around 537 marriages took place, of which 240 were found to have irregularities.
So far, 16 people have been arrested for arranged marriage fraud and forgery, and five government employees from different departments including the Social Welfare Department have also been suspended.
According to information provided by the Social Welfare Department, from the implementation year of the “Mukhyamantri Samoohik Vivaah Yojana” in 2017-18 to the financial year 2022-23, there were a total of 2,77,292 group marriages, including 27,782 couples. from minority groups; 78,300 from Other Backward Classes; 1,50,357 pairs from Scheduled Castes/Tribes and 10,353 pairs from general category.
A total of 1,00,874 people were married under the scheme in 2022-2023.
So far this year, 66,673 couples have held mass weddings.
The department said the target for 2023-24 is to achieve around 1.10,000 marriages.
According to information received by the department, an assistance amount of Rs 35,000 will be transferred to the woman’s account under the scheme, along with Rs 10,000 to purchase materials required for the wedding such as clothes, toe rings, anklets, utensils wait. .
To organize the event, Rs 6,000 per couple was spent on food, pandals, furniture, drinking water, lighting and other necessary arrangements.
The total expenditure for a couple was said to be Rs 51,000.
Arun said that after the Ballia fraud case, “we tightened the system but did not impose any kind of ban on such projects in any area. Now, mass marriages can be organized only after thorough investigation and strict monitoring.”
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)
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