Waris Fayaz

Srinagar, Feb 03 : The government on Tuesday acknowledged that payments under the Marriage Assistance Scheme are pending for thousands of approved beneficiaries even as it denied any delay in the disbursement.

In a written reply to a question by legislator Javid Hassan Baig, the Social Welfare Department, per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that during the current financial year, Rs 163.93 crore has been disbursed to 31,524 beneficiary girls under the scheme.

The department said that sanctions have already been accorded for around 12,777 additional beneficiaries. However, bills amounting to Rs 70.08 crore are still pending in the treasury for payment since October 2025.

It said that these cases have been sanctioned and are under process with payments awaiting treasury clearance. “There is no undue delay on our part, it added, attributing the pending payments to procedural processing of bills—(KNO)