Odisha’s Ganjam declared child marriage-free district
By C.B.Singh
Berhampur, Jan. 5 : Odisha’s Ganjam has been declared a child marriage free district by its administration. District collector Vijay Amruta Kulange has issued an order to this effect.
“After duly verified by the respective block development officers (BDOs), tehsildars, executive officers of Notified Area Councils (NACs) and child marriage prohibition officers which have been recommended by the gram panchayats, ward, village level task force committees, the administration Ganjam hereby declared Ganjam district as child marriage free district,” read the order.
Ganjam has 3,309 number of child marriage free villages, 280 child marriage free wards under Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and 503 child marriage free gram panchayats, said the collector.
He said that his team worked hard to make the Nirbhaya Kadhi programme, a special drive against child marriage, successful.
To control child marriages, the Ganjam administration with the help of UNICEF and ActionAid India had launched the Nirbhaya Kadhi programme in 2019. Under the programme, gram panchayat and ward-level task forces were formed to create awareness among people about the ills of child marriage.
