Odisha to be child marriage free, state government prepares guidelines

Bhubaneswar (Odisha Bhaskar): Odisha will be child marriage free. It will soon be implemented in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Berhampur municipal areas of the state. After rural areas, now urban child marriage will be freed. Various wards and villages of urban areas will be involved in this.

The government has set a target to free Odisha from child marriage by 2030. While the government has already prepared the strategy, the various wards and villages under all the municipalities will be involved in it. However, for this, child marriage must not have been done in the last 2 years in the concerned ward or village. Child marriage committee should be formed at ward or village level and meet regularly.

The Department of Women and Child Development has issued a guideline to rid the state of child marriage. Various awareness programs related to child marriage should be conducted by women self help groups and child protection committee members in the said village and ward. These guidelines may be modified by the department at the district level. Therefore, the basic principles will be kept unchanged.