VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced the launch of YSR Kalyanamastu and Shaadi Tohfa from October 1, 2022, in line with his election promise. With this, 98.44% of the poll promises have been implemented.
As per the government order issued on Saturday, financial aid of Rs 1 lakh will be extended for Scheduled Castes (SC) under Kalyanamastu. For inter-caste marriage with a person from SC community, it would be Rs 1.2 lakh.
For Scheduled Tribes (ST), it would be in the same proportion and for Backward Classes (BC), it would be Rs 50,000 and Rs 75,000 in case of inter-caste marriage. For Minorities, an aid of Rs 1 lakh would be given, and the differently-abled would receive financial assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh.
For construction workers, the assistance provided would be Rs 40,000. The scheme would be implemented through village and ward secretariats. The age of brides and grooms should be 18 and 21, respectively, or above to be eligible for the scheme.
The previous government was paying Rs 40,000 for SCs and Rs 75,000 for inter-caste marriages with SC. For STs, the amount given was Rs 50,000 and for Minorities, it was Rs 50,000. For physically-challenged persons, it was Rs 1 lakh and for construction workers, it was Rs 20,000.
The press release stated, “The previous government failed to implement the scheme in its spirit and did not pay Rs 68.68 crore, citing one or the other reason. Though much publicity was given to the Pelli Kanuka scheme announced by the then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, it was confined to papers only.”
The statement pointed out that the TDP government did not clear dues to 17,709 beneficiaries for 2018-19 under the scheme.