Calcutta, Feb. 9: The Centre’s project to provide cash incentives for marriages between members of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes and general castes has come to a halt in Bengal because of lack of funds.

The Centre has not given any funds under the scheme, that also provides incentives for marriages between SC/STs and OBCs, to Bengal since 2008 as the state government failed to submit the utilisation certificate for the money allotted in 1995-96.

It took 12 years to use up the last instalment of Rs 2.43 lakh because there were “very few applicants”, senior Writers’ officials said.

The Centre had started the scheme in 1958 to encourage marriage between the SC/STs and the general castes.

When the last instalment to Bengal was released in 1995-96, the incentive amount per couple was Rs 5,000. In 2008, the Centre proposed to increase the amount to Rs 50,000, with the central and state governments providing an equal share.

“But the then Left government informed the Centre that because of a cash crunch, it could provide a matching amount if the incentive sum was Rs 30,000. Since then, the Centre has not allotted a single rupee under the scheme citing the state’s failure to submit an utilisation certificate,” an official said.

“The project has come to a halt in Bengal since then. The applications of nearly 500 couples with registered inter-caste marriage are pending,” he added.

Most states, including Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, have raised the incentive amount to Rs 50,000.

The matter was taken up in a meeting at Writers’ on Tuesday of the state-level vigilance and monitoring committee on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1955.

A senior official said it was decided that the state government would try to furnish the utilisation certificate as early as possible.

He said that after the state agreed to increase the amount to Rs 30,000, several applications started pouring in. “As the earlier amount was only Rs 5,000, not many people had shown interest in the scheme. It did not take off in Bengal also because of lack of publicity,” the official said.

Before the Assembly polls last year, the state government had written to the Centre seeking funds under the scheme. When the Centre replied that money could not be disbursed without the utilisation certificate, the state “hurriedly” sent a list mentioning only the names of those who got the money.

“As there were no other details, the Centre sent back the list, saying it was incomplete,” the official said.

Asked why the utilisation certificate was not sent in the four years since 2008, an official of the backward classes welfare department said: “It appears that a section of officials did not bother to monitor the scheme. That is why there was no budgetary allocation in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12.”

He said Tuesday’s meeting was the first the vigilance and monitoring committee had held since 2008.

“As no meeting was held, no decision could be taken on seeking further funds,” another official said.

According to the officials, there are certain preconditions of qualifying for the scheme.

First, the marriage should be registered with the appropriate authorities. Second, the money will be given only if it is the first marriage for both the bride and the groom.

“There is no income bar for getting the incentive,” the official said.