In order to prevent child marriages in the district, committees would be formed at village and janpad panchayat levels. A meeting in this regard was held at district headquarters, here on Tuesday.
While addressing the meeting, Sarguja Collector Ritu Sen asked Sub-divisional officers, Tehsildars, CEOs of janpad panchayats, block education officers and project officers to initiate action at their own level to eradicate the social evil.
Sen said that the committees formed at village panchayat and janpad panchayat levels should have representatives of Panchayati Raj bodies, public representatives, social workers, Government officials and leaders of specific communities and ethnic groups besides SHO of concerned police station and local Patwari.
The Committee should also hold quarterly meeting to review the cases of child marriage, Sen added. She instructed the officials concerned to identify specific ethnic groups where child marriage is prevalent in the district.
She asked them to engage local patwaris, kotwars, teachers, anganwari workers and public representatives in identifying such communities and groups.
She further said that each and every marriage is registered at every village and village panchayat level. Anganwari workers in coordination with Panchayat secretaries should verify the age of the bride and groom with help of the records. Services of Kotwars should be taken for public announcement in villages to make people aware that child marriage is a crime.
She instructed the officers and employees of Women and Child Development Department to hold discussions and spread awareness about consequences of child marriage, prevention of child marriage, impact of child marriage on health of women, malnutrition in infants, maternity mortality rate and infant mortality rate.
For generating awareness against child marriage, the officers should give a message by wall writing, distribution of pamphlets, holding rallies at schools and anganwadi centres, and by organising debates and essay competitions on topics like ‘impact of child marriage on society’ and ‘child marriage and malnutrition’.
Sen emphasized on evolving an effective information system to prevent child marriages. She said that in Chhattisgarh, child marriages are performed mainly on the occasion of Ram Navami and Akshay Tritiya. Therefore, the Committee should closely monitor the proceedings and take all possible measures to prevent child marriages.