Poll season leaves weddings of 3,000 couples from BPL families in limbo

NAINITAL:

Manini Arya

(name changed) from Nainital had been looking forward to February 12, the day she was to get married. From the meagre fund at her disposal, every penny was carefully spent, each decision painstakingly weighed. The halwai and tentwallah had been booked even as Arya’s family, which is below poverty line (BPL), waited for the financial aid from the state government that was to help pay for most of the wedding arrangements.

But the poll season has cast a shadow over Arya’s wedding as the authorities have stopped release of funds citing the model code of conduct. This has left Arya and thousands of other individuals from BPL families who were planning to get married in February agonised.

“I don’t know when the wedding will happen now. My parents had been running around for the past few months to make all the arrangements. Now we have been told that there is no money coming in from the government as the model code of conduct is in place. We will have to do everything all over again,” Arya told TOI.

Vishnu Dhanik, director of social welfare department said, “We had received 2,935 applications from BPL families seeking monetary help for weddings. The funds had been allocated to the districts but due to imposition of the model code of conduct, the money cannot be distributed right now.”

The social welfare department provides Rs 50,000 to BPL families to aid them in the weddings of their daughters. The scheme also covers widow remarriage.

The highest number of applications for the wedding grant had come from Udham Singh Nagar (919), Haridwar (847) followed by

Dehradun

(355), Bageshwar (267), Pithoragarh (113), Chamoli (111),

Uttarkashi

(92), Tehri (64), Nainital (53), Pauri (50), Champawat (40) and Rudraprayag (23). Almora district had a single applicant.

An applicant from Nainital district on the condition of anonymity said, “I have approached the district administration many times in the past month. But there is uncertainty. I was told to come after March 11 when the new government has been formed. I don’t know if I can wait that long.”