By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad : The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh has issued orders to organize mass marriages of poor Muslim countries and constituted a state level committee to supervise the implementation of the scheme.
According to the GO 340, the government will spend Rs15000 on the wedding of a poor girl. The state minister for minority welfare Mohammed Ali Shabbir said that an amount of Rs 5 crore was earmarked for the mass marriage of Muslim girls. But now 15% of this amount has been allocated to the Christian minority community.
To be eligible to benefit from this scheme, a girl’s family will have to produce white ration card, or an income certificate from mandal revenue office and the Imam or organizing committee of the local mosque.
He said that the marriages will be organized thrice a year keeping in view the auspicious months for Muslims. The first such ceremony will be organized in August next. The state committee will decide on which items the money should be spent in a wedding.
The eligible families will have to apply for assistance under this scheme and their applications will be verified by the district and state committees.
Meanwhile the state government has also decided to set up a separate department and financial corporation for the Christian minority welfare department. Thus Andhra Pradesh has become the first state to have separate departments for two minorities-Muslims and Christians.
The government has also decided to start sending the poor Christians to the pilgrimage of the Christian holy place of Bethlehem from next month. The government had earlier decided to extend the assistance to the Christian pilgrims on the lines of subsidy to the Haj pilgrims.