Telangana govt's Shaadi Mubarak scheme is now a full-on scam

Hyderabad: Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths unearthed a scam in Shaadi Mubarak, the social welfare scheme launched by the TS government in 2014.

A Meeseva operator was arrested from Kishanbagh in a joint operation by the ACB and police for cheating a woman who had applied under the scheme.
Meanwhile, higher officials said that ACB sleuths are inquiring into 15 cases in various districts in connection with similar frauds.

ACB officials said Md. Zahed Ali, a Meeseva operator of Kidhanbagh, illegally took money from the victim in the name of registration charges and stole the money given by the government for her daughter’s wedding.

Fouziya Begum, a housemaid from Asad Baba Nagar of Bahadurpura had applied under the scheme for her daughter’s wedding.

“Zahed Ali took Rs 31,000 from the Rs 50,000 given to the victim by the government. He gave her only Rs 20,000. Apart from that he also collected Rs 2,000 as registration charges,” said an ACB official.

The police received information from the victim, who conducted her daughter’s wedding with whatever money she got.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau raided the premises of the suspect and arrested him. The police has started the process of recovering the money from the accused.

ACB sleuths have been conducting inspections in Hyderabad, Warangal, Nizamabad and Nalgonda districts to find out if there are malpractices in the scheme.

Though the government has not issued any order to conduct inspections, the ACB is doing it on its own initiative. ACB chief A.K. Khan said that they are keeping a vigil on all social welfare schemes in the state.

TS government had launched the Shaadi Mubarak scheme in October 2014, under which a one-time assistance of Rs 51,000 will be given to a Muslim girl’s family at the time of her marriage. In order to get the grant the annual income of the parents should not exceed Rs 2 lakh.