SAMBALPUR: In a bid to strengthen child protection, the North Odisha Police headquarters has issued detailed instructions for the formation of ‘Ama Police Samiti’ in five districts in western Odisha.
Issued by IG (Northern Range) Himanshu Lal, the guidelines aim to address growing concerns regarding child marriage, labour, trafficking, abuse and neglect. Lal recently issued a letter to SPs of Sambalpur, Bargarh, Balangir, Jharsuguda and Sonepur with instructions to ensure implementation of the guidelines by all police stations in their respective jurisdictions.
The letter said that children in western Odisha remain particularly vulnerable due to factors such as migration, mining activities and socio-economic challenges. Citing NFHS-5 data, he noted that 20.5 percent of girls in Odisha are married before reaching adulthood, with higher prevalence reported in tribal-dominated and western districts.
Conceived as a community-police partnership platform, the Ama Police Samiti will enhance local security and protect vulnerable groups, including women and the elderly. The committees will support the police through awareness campaigns, community engagement, monitoring of suspicious activities and efforts to curb social evils.
The guidelines call for creating databases of needy children, monitoring marriages through village registers and identifying five villages under each police station for development as child-friendly villages. Police personnel will make regular visits to these villages to supervise the implementation of the planned activities.
