LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Social Welfare and Bait-ul-Maal Sohail Shaukat Butt chaired a meeting on Thursday to review arrangements for the next phase of the Dhee Rani Programme, under which mass weddings are to be arranged for 5,000 deserving girls beginning in October.
According to an official statement, the meeting was attended by Secretary Social Welfare Saira Umar, Director General Social Welfare Dr Shehenshah Faisal Azim, and departmental and divisional directors.
The meeting was told that 3,000 girls were married under the programme in 2024-25 and 5,000 in 2025-26, with the current year’s target matching last year’s. Applications for the next phase have been received through the Maryam Ko Batain app and will be scrutinised and verified before eligible applicants are included.
Mr Butt directed the department to ensure transparency, merit and effective monitoring at every stage, and said selection, verification and wedding arrangements should be further streamlined so benefits reached genuinely deserving families. The programme was launched following provincial cabinet approval to facilitate dignified marriages for girls from low-income families.
The department has not published eligibility thresholds, the per-beneficiary cost, or the ratio of applications received to places available — disclosures that would allow the selection process to be independently assessed.
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