Lucknow, Aug 8 - Simply put, they fix matches. They also organize mass weddings. Sounds like any old marriage bureau? Wait, they only arrange marriages for impoverished families, don't charge a rupee and make sure

The groom doesn't either.

A group of youths in Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi district, some 110 km from Lucknow, is running an organisation that offers matrimonial services aimed at arranging dowry-free marriages of poor girls.

'Under the banner of our organisation, Chatra Yuva Yug Nirman Sangthan (CYYNS), we have so far fixed as many as 85 marriages that have been performed successfully,' Ajay Mishra, founder member of CYYNS, told IANS over phone from Hardoi.

'Primarily, our services are meant for poor families. We help them find suitable grooms for their daughters. The basic challenge lies in hunting for a groom, who is ready to go for marriage without taking any dowry,' he added.

CYYNS came into existence in Hardoi's Sahjanpur village around 10 years ago, with the efforts of Mishra and some of his friends. At the time of inception, CYYNS used to focus on drug de-addiction programmes in schools and colleges.

Now CYYNS boasts of having its members in nearly 100 villages of Hardoi and its adjoining districts.

'It's only due to the persistent efforts of my friends that our organisation's membership grew. It's with the help of these members that we got to know about suitable matches for poor girls,' said Mishra.

Shruti Yadav, a primary school teacher in the Behndar locality in Hardoi, said: 'Before I got married through a proposal sent by Bhaiji (Ajay Mishra), my marriage was fixed twice but broke when my parents expressed their inability to meet the dowry demands.'

'I am grateful to him (Ajay), who brought a dowry-free marriage proposal for me at a time when my family members had virtually left the hope of my marriage,' added Yadav, 30, who got married this year to a bank employee.