HYDERABAD: BC welfare minister Gangula Kamalakar on Thursday said Rs 7,220 crore was disbursed under Kalyan Lakshmi-Shaadi Mubarak scheme benefiting 9.31 lakh people in the state.
Replying to a question on the scheme during the assembly session, the welfare minister said that the scheme was initially rolled out for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and minorities in 2014-15.
“It was extended to BC communities from 2016 and Rs 3,834 crore was spent on them. An amount of Rs 877 crore was spent on Scheduled Tribes, Rs 1,475 crore on Scheduled Castes and another Rs 1,534 crore was spent on minorities,” he said.
As part of the scheme, Rs 50,000 was earmarked for each member initially and then it was increased to Rs 75,000 and now to Rs 1,10,116.
“There are no middlemen in the scheme. Even during the pandemic, we implemented the scheme. Every eligible girl is getting the benefit,” the minister said.
Once mandal revenue officers certify eligibility, the family can use the money for marriage expenses, the welfare minister said.
Replying to a question, the minister said the state government had issued 3,11,025 food security cards after verifying applications of 8,70,285.
The minister said that as per the rules it was not possible to increase the beneficiaries, but chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had taken the initiative to issue more food security cards in the state.
The eligibility criteria for the scheme is a family’s annual income should be less than Rs 2 lakh in urban areas and Rs 1.5 lakh in rural areas.
The welfare minister also informed the members that 9.53 lakh applications had been received for ration cards and 6.70 lakh cards issued. A total of 21.30 lakh people were availing ration, he added.
