To discourage the practice of dowry, the Uttar Pradesh government has come up with a mass marriage policy for poor girls under which financial assistance of Rs 35,000 will be given at each wedding, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday.

Gorakhpur: To discourage the practice of dowry, the Uttar Pradesh government has come up with a mass marriage policy for poor girls under which financial assistance of Rs 35,000 will be given at each wedding, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday.

He also said that a rehabilitation centre will come up in Gorakhpur's BRD Hospital campus for the disabled. Atleast 100 disabled persons each in the state's 80 parliamentary constituencies will be provided motorised tricycles, he added.

Adityanath was speaking at an event where he and Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot distributed tricycles and other assisting devices to 4,115 differently-abled persons.

"We have come up with a mass marriage policy for poor girls in the state and Rs 35,000 financial assistance will be given at each marriage," Adityanath said. It will certainly discourage dowry in marriages, he added. Speaking about the differently-abled, he said they had lots of talent which should be used in the nation's interest.

"Motorised tricycles and employment facilities for the differently-abled will be available in all 75 districts or 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state," he said. At least 100 differently abled persons in each Lok Sabha constituency will get such a tricycle, he said.

"Since their birth, the differently-abled people are considered as burden. But by holding a distribution camp of this type, we can empower them. The state government is now giving 4 percent reservation to the differently-abled in jobs up from earlier 3 percent. The Uttar Pradesh government has also increased the monthly pension to Rs 500 from Rs 300," Adityanath said.

He said the state government was going to start a campaign for encephalitis patients also. "We will provide facilities to differently-abled encephalitis patients. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for approval of a rehabilitation centre in Gorakhpur... Land has been allocated for it at BRD Medical College campus, and after its construction 'divyaang' people will get better facilities here," he said.

Gehlot said that social justice cannot exist in the society without the empowerment of the differently-abled.

"Earlier, governments used to categorise differently-abled people in only seven categories, but we have extended it to 21 categories. We will provide universal card to divyaang people, which will be valid across the country, so that they could get benefits across the county," the minister said.

Divyaang Finance and Development Corporation has provided employment loan to 1.5 lakh persons so far, he added.