GHAZIABAD: Under Uttar Pradesh government’s Mukhya Mantri Samuhik Vivah Yojna mass marriage scheme ) for girls from economically weaker sections of society, 97 marriages were solemnized in the district. So far 188 such marriages have taken place but it is way short of 1500 marriage target set by the government for the year 2018-19. This despite state government hiking incentive from Rs 35,000 to Rs 51,000 for each married couple.“On Saturday 97 marriages were solemnized in the district under Mukhya Mantri Samuhik Vivah Yojna with maximum 23 marriages taking place in Bhojpur block ” said Sanjay Kumar Vyas , district social welfare officer. Mass marriages under the said scheme took place in entire state with 15380 marriages was being solemnized in the state.Ever since the scheme was launched in the state last year, there were few takers in Ghaziabad. The state government with an intent to bring more beneficiaries under scheme had raised per annum income of the family from Rs 54,000 for urban centers and Rs 46,000 for rural areas to Rs 2 lakh.“This Rs 2 lakh annual income cap for beneficiary families were raised in August last year and this saw more and more families opting for the scheme but even then the turnout was not satisfactory” said an official. Under the scheme a girl use to get Rs 35,000 but this month that was hiked to Rs 51,000.“Out of Rs 51,000, Rs 35,000 goes into the account of groom while Rs 10,000 is used to give away gifts to the couple and this led to more and more people opting for the scheme” said Vyas.When asked about possible reason behind such reluctance an official says “marriage in any household is also a matter of prestige and family even though they are poor do not want to give an impression in their society that they cannot afford marriage of their girl, may be this could be on reason behind people not coming forward.”But now when such incentives in place Vyas hopes that next time the count will increase but even then 1500 marriage target for the year 2018-19 is hard to achieve.

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