Dowry is such a social menace that pauperises hundreds of families in rural Bangladesh. Many families became destitute to meet the demand for dowry.

But the people of Kahetara under Burichang upazilla are lucky enough to get rid of the curse of dowry. Now no parents here are worried about the marriage of their daughters as no matchmaker comes with the proposal of dowry on behalf of the groom's family.

The success story of the Kahetara village was learnt while visiting the village, which is the part of a project titled 'Communication activities for children and women development'.

Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) is executing the project with the financial assistance of UNICEF.

Khadiza Akhter Munni, who was married to Shakhawat Hossain recently, told this correspondent that the groom's family did not make any demand for dowry.

Her father Abu Taher said, "Three of my daughters as well as two sons were married off without taking or giving any dowry."

Kahetara village was declared as the dowry-free village on March 26, 2004 under the initiatives of Sammilon Ekushe, a socio-cultural organisation.

Kazi Abdul Maleque, a former PWD engineer and chief adviser of Sammilon Ekushe, said the organisation was formed on December 16, 2003 to help improve education and health of women and children.

Whenever any proposal for marriage is initiated in the village, Ekushe performs all other related works, he added.

Joshed Ahmed, organising secretary of Sammilon Ekushe, said, "We organise different cultural programmes on national days to create awareness about harmful effects of dowry and early marriage including importance of education for children and women."

Kazi Abul Hossain, a marriage registrar, said he did not find any case of dowry in last year.

The organisers of Ekushe said it operates with no financial support from the government or any non-government bodies, rather the villagers themselves donate money to run the organisation.

Thus, Kahetara has become a model to be followed by many other villages of the country.