Delay in processing applications leaves people red-faced

Mahbubnagar: Expressing their displeasure at the way Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyana Lakshmi schemes were being implemented in Mahbubnagar district, many of those who have applied to get the scheme benefits are decrying the official apathy and inordinate delay despite submitting all required documents for processing.

As per the rough statistics available, it is said that every year Mahbubnagar district is receiving on an average about 10,000 applications under the Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyana Lakshmi schemes, which is aimed at providing financial aid of Rs 1,00,116 for the marriage of one girl child in a family from the government.

However, there are thousands of pending applications for the last three years which have not been accorded approval by the concerned Tahsildar, Revenue Division Officer (RDO) and the banks.

“Last year alone, there have been more than 10,000 people who have applied for the Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyana Lakshmi schemes from Mahbubnagar district. However, not even 10 per cent of these applications have been cleared by the government officials at the ground level. Majority of these applications are either pending at the Tahsildar’s office or at the RDO’s office.

Those who have been cleared are pending at banks or facing technical glitches. The poor families who had conducted marriages by lending money from others in the hope of returning after getting the financial aid are now in a tough situation as they are facing intense pressure from the lenders,” said Paramesh Goud, CPI District Secretary, Mahbubnagar, while demanding the government to see that all eligible get the scheme benefits without further delay.

The CPI secretary also felt that the State government was highly publicising the schemes and claiming tall that they were doing a lot of good for the people through their welfare schemes, but the ground reality is totally different to what the government is claiming.

“I have been visiting the Tahsildar, RDO and Gram Panchayat office to get relevant documents for applying for the Kalyana Lakshmi scheme for my daughter who had been married off recently. But officials at Tahsildar’s office are deliberately delaying approval of my application and asking me to get some more documents.

I am fed up with the officials as they are wantedly ignoring to accept my application under the pretext of some petty reasons,” said Gangya Nayak of Jadcherla mandal. In another case, though the marriage was solemnised in the year 2016 and the application got cleared from Tahsildar and RDO, it got stuck up at at the bank.

“Though our wait of more than two years yielded fruits and even the concerned RDO office issued cheques, when I went to get my cheque cleared the bank officials stated that there was no amount and I have to wait till the government releases the next lot of funds. It has been three years since then and I have been waiting. But till date, we have not received a penny under the scheme,” lamented another applicant, who preferred to remain anonymous.

With all these issues bogging the implementation of Shaadi Mubarak, the people in the district are demanding the government to allocate adequate funds for the schemes and also urged it to adopt a transparent and fool proof mechanism so that the beneficiaries are not harassed and get their applications cleared from officials concerned.