Mass wedding of 5,000 couples under Dhee Rani plan approved

LAHORE:On the special directives of the Chief Minister, the Steering Committee of the ‘Dhee Rani’ Programme convened under the chairmanship of Provincial Minister for Social Welfare and Bait-ul-Mal Sohail Shaukat Butt to decide key measures for the upcoming fiscal year.

The committee unanimously approved the increase in annual mass weddings from 3,000 to 5,000 couples. Additionally, instead of traditional gift hampers, each couple will now receive PKR200,000 via the Dhee Rani Card.

The mass wedding events will be organised between November 2025 and February 15, 2026, with a commitment to complete all 5,000 weddings before Ramazan 2026. A generous allocation of PKR1.7 billion has been made by the CM for this purpose, for which the committee expressed gratitude.

Importantly, eligible Hindu couples will also be included in the upcoming wedding cycle, following the inclusive vision and direction of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. The meeting was attended by Secretary Social Welfare Javed Akhtar Mehmood, DG Tariq Qureshi, all Divisional Commissioners via video link and other key officials.

Sohail Shaukat Butt appreciated the successful completion of 3,000 weddings in the first year and thanked the Secretary, DG, Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, and RPOs for their dedicated efforts.

He remarked, ‘The ‘Dhee Rani’ Programme has become the true voice of Punjab’s daughters. The chief minister has nurtured this initiative like a mother. It is under her guidance that we are now expanding its scope. InshaAllah, physical verification of all eligible couples will be completed by October, he added.