BJP demands busting of child racket in state

Bhubaneswar: Alleging largescale trafficking of children from tribal-dominated areas of the state due to inaction of state government, BJP today demanded immediate steps to bust the racket, rescue the victims and punish the culprits.

"Many children, including girls, from poor tribal families are being trafficked from areas like Gajapati, Kandhamal and Ganjam districts by dubious organisations by promising education and other facilities," Odisha BJP unit`s Vice-president Ashok Sahu told reporters here. Alleging involvement of religious organisations in the racket, Sahu said 35 children from Odisha aged between three and 13 years were rescued from Coimbatore area of Tamil Nadu recently.

Many children were sent illegally to states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the name of providing them education, he said adding they were subsequently engaged as labourers and domestic helps while girls sexually exploited.

Accusing Odisha`s tribal welfare and women and child development departments as well as police administration of failing to check the illegal act, Sahu said the government must take concrete steps to check such illegal trafficking.

The BJP leader further alleged that about 234 children had been kept at a place in Kanichi in Ganjam district by an organisation which had no legal status. A similar racket is operating from a house in K-6 sector of Kalinga Nagar area in the state capital, he claimed.