MP Marriage Scheme Probe, 6,000 Weddings In Two Years In Vidisha District: Report

MP Marriage Scheme Probe: A panchayat block in Vidisha district, Madhya Pradesh, funded 6,000 weddings in two years under a welfare scheme. After the magnanimity of this was raised MLA Umakant Sharma, the state government has ordered a probe into the case.

The beneficiaries were given under the Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojna, which provides Rs 51,000 as financial assistance to newly married couples. The idea is to help the economically weaker families to marry off their daughters. According to the Mineral Resource and Labour minister Brijender Pratap Singh, the Sironj block of the Vidisha district, the state paid Rs 30 crore to 5,976 beneficiaries between April 2019 and May 2021.

The Sironj municipal area spent Rs 40.8 lakh on eight marriages and Lateri area spent Rs 76.5 lakh on 15 weddings. Most of the people benefiting from the schemes are labourers.

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The MLA from Sironj, who raised this question, said that the figures were high and alleged that "fake beneficiaries" have come up to "usurp the benefits by corrupt employees."

Sharma alleged that she first came to know about this after two people from Ghutua village complained that they have not received the prescribed payment and after investigating the matter came to know about the number of weddings that took place. Sharma blamed the CEO of Janpad panchayat and demanded a fair probe.

In an interview with Indian Express, Sharma said that the CEO of the panchayat has been there for two years and despite two attempts to transfer him, he has remained after getting a "stay from the court."

The figures on the amount spent and the number of beneficiaries were announced by the minister. This data was also questioned by the speaker Girish Gautam, who said, "How is it possible that around 6,000 weddings were held and Rs 30 crore was spent in a single block considering the Covid period?"

The speaker urged the minister to inquire into the matter at hand.

A similar scheme on helping economically weaker families with marriage through mass marriages exists in Uttar Pradesh and efforts to usurp the money have been reported. On December 11, a brother allegedly married his sister to benefit from the cash given out to each newly married couple. The incident took place at Tundla in Firozabad, during the Chief Minister's mass wedding program.

The allegation surfaced after the videos and photos of the newly married reached the village and the head as well as the people around alleged that they were siblings. Read more about the incident here.