LAHORE: The Steering Committee of the `Dhee Rani` Programme has approved an increase in annual mass weddings from 3,000 to 5,000 couples. Additionally, instead of traditional gift hampers, each couple will now receive Rs200,000 via the Dhee Rani Card.

The steering committee meeting, chaired by Punjab Social Welfare and Baitul Maal Minister Sohail Shaukat Butt decided the mass wedding events would be organised between Nov 2025 and Feb 15, 2026, with a commitment to complete all 5,000 weddings before Ramazan next year. The chief minister has allocated Rs1.7bn for the programme.

Importantly, eligible Hindu couples will also be included in the upcoming wedding cycle, following the inclusive vision of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

The minister lauded the successful completion of 3,000 weddings in the first year.

Mr Butt said the `Dhee Rani` programme had become the true voice of Punjab`s daughters. He said the Punjab government was now expanding its scope and hoped that physical verification of all eligible couples would be completed by October.

The meeting was attended by social welfare department secretary Javed Akhtar Mehmood, DG Tariq Qureshi, all divisional commissioners (via video-link), and other key officials.