Thiruvananthapuram: Cabinet on Wednesday decided to start a weekly lottery Mangalya to mobilize funds for providing marriage assistance to girls from poor families under the Mangalya Nidhi Scheme.
At the Cabinet briefing Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that one of the existing lotteries would be renamed as Mangalya and the income generated from the same would be given for marriage assistance.
Each girl belonging to the BPL category and those from the APL families whose annual income is less than Rs 1 lakh, would be provided financial assistance of Rs 30,000 each for marriage.
Over 60 lakh BPL families will benefit out .
Though the scheme was announced in the Budget, it could not be implemented as the amount collected from cess on rental of Kalyanamandapams was not enough to finance the Nidhi.
The nodal agency for the progarmme would be Social Justice Department. A committee headed by respective district collectors would identify the beneficiaries.
