Tauseef Ahmad
SRINAGAR, Aug 26: Like Afreen (name changed) hundreds of poor girls who have passed 18 years of age and live in border villages of north Kashmir are waiting to be benefited under State Marriage Assistance Scheme (SMAS) so that their parents find a good match for their marriage.
The social assistance scheme helps unmarried girls of J&K UT living below the poverty line, who may not find themselves in a position to marry due to financial constraints.
Under this scheme an unmarried girl will receive 50000 of cash at the time of her marriage. The steps of availing benefits under this scheme is that the girl should be above 18 and should belong to BPL family and should be identified as a poor girl in a survey list available with concerned department of concerned district social welfare offices.
“Working as a laborer, I have hand to mouth income. I found a good match last year for my daughter. That is why I have applied for a marriage assistance scheme. It provides enormous relief to people like me during a daughter’s marriage. But when will my application bear fruits, I don’t know,” Ghulam Rasool Bhat, a resident of Gurez told Kashmir Despatch.
“To find a suitable match always becomes a difficult task for a girl. Marriage assistance schemes help hundreds of poor families in our village. We felt relieved after my sister was married in 2021 with the amount (Rs 40,000) provided by the government,” Adil Ahmad, brother of Asiya, a resident of Gurez, told Kashmir Despatch.
Talking to Kashmir Despatch Sarpanch Sardab Tulail-Gurez said that hundreds of girls are awaiting benefits under SMAS scheme as no official is authorized to sign the NoC of marriage assistance. “Earlier tehsildar was authorized to sign the affidavit in Gurez valley. But now no officer here has that authority for reasons unknown to us,” he added.
According to letter shot by DC Bandipora vide number DCB/Estt/Act/2022-990-92 written to director finance social welfare department J&K, it has been sought to give authority to Executive Magistrate Gurez to sign NDC/Affidavit instead of Judicial Magistrate in Gurez valley.
The letter also informed that the Judicial Magistrate visits once or twice in a month to Gurez valley and it becomes difficult to assign the applications of local people, depriving them the benefit from under state marriage assistance scheme in the border village of Gurez valley.
A girl from village Sardab Tulail in Gurez valley told Kashmir Despatch that her father is a labourer who had found a match for her around 2 years ago. “Our income is negligible. We had applied under the marriage assistance scheme in 2020. Accordingly our family planned for marriage thinking that the money will be released soon. We expected the disbursal within three months and the date was already fixed but after more than two years we have not received any money under the said scheme. My father couldn’t afford to go for my marriage so we continue to postpone it,” said Shaheena (name changed).
Around 30-40 girls in Gurez valley whom Kashmir Despatch could contact have already passed the marriageable age. They belong to poor families who could not afford their marriage and had applied for SMAS with a hope that now their dreams would be fulfilled. “But our applications have not been considered till date”, said Aisha (26) name changed from Neeru Village of Tulail Gurez.
In Boniyar tehsil of Baramulla district residents alleged that several cases filed under marriage assistance scheme have not been sanctioned by the department sofar.
The residents of Boniyar alleged that without cross checking the marriage assistance cases the fund has been released to those girls who are not eligible either they are below 18 or they have been already married.
Meanwhile while talking to Kashmir Despatch an official of Social Welfare Department Boniyar tehsil Mohammad Shafi said that last year the applications were received in offline mode. “However, this year all the work of the department is online without cross checking no money has been released to any applicant.”
He said that during the current year around 100 applications have been received from Boniyar Tehsil from which 80 applications have been approved by the department.
District Social Welfare officer Baramulla Nissar Ahmad told Kashmir Despatch: “Last year 1718 marriage assistance cases were sanctioned and money was released by the social welfare department in Baramulla district. Now there is a change in the system. An applicant must fill an online application after cross checking from the department whether her name exists in the survey list or not. The money will be released after all the formalities in two months.”
