Earlier, these marriages were performed by various departments including minority welfare; However, from now on the Social Welfare Department has been made the nodal agency for these mass marriages and the budget from all the departments has been transferred to it.
Officials told TOI that Rs 600 crore has been earmarked for mass marriages across the state in this financial year, of which the department has spent Rs 81.76 crore till August.
From April to August this year, the department has been able to host mass marriages of around 16,033 couples. Of these, 1387 couples from the minority community, 9,374 couples from the Dalit community, 4,649 couples from the OBC category and 623 couples from the general category got married.
Of these, Moradabad division had the lion’s share in 1,567 marriages, followed by Varanasi (1,409), Lucknow (1,274), Kanpur (1,035), Ayodhya (1,014), Meerut (962), Prayagraj (934), Gorakhpur (933) and Bareilly (871).
Principal Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Hari Om He said that efforts would be made to ensure maximum number of marriages in the upcoming wedding season as a large number of applications have already been received.
Under the scheme, the government provides Rs 51,000 to the bride at the time of marriage. Out of the total amount given, Rs 35,000 is transferred to the bride’s account, while useful items are gifted to the bride from the remaining amount. Officials further said that no money is transferred to the groom. Couples below the poverty line, from any caste or religion, can take advantage of this scheme.