Even as tribal districts are posting an increase in child sex ratio, coastal districts have emerged a major cause of concern due to the fast widening gap between boys and girls.
While the Government has decided to open Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) centres in all the districts, actual implementation of the laws to prevent female foeticide requires concerted efforts from all, Health Minister Damodar Rout said here on Tuesday.
The Health Department has started an exercise to sensitise district authorities and motivate them towards taking strong measures to curb the menace.
In a step towards this direction, a State-level workshop on PCPNDT was organised on Tuesday with district collectors, tehsildars and executive magistrate ranked officials of more than 25 districts attended.
Rout emphasised, along with effective implementation of the Act, proper surveillance and monitoring mechanisms should be developed at the grassroots level to strike against perpetrators in time. Those caught in the act should be accorded fast and strong punishment, he said.
As per the 2011 Census, Odisha has sex ratio of 941 against the National ratio of 919 girls for 1,000 boys. However, the State has posted an alarming dip in the ratio which fell to 941 from 953 in 2001 Census.
The coastal districts have been the major culprits with the ones like Nayagarh, Dhenkanal, Angul, Ganjam and Cuttack revealing disturbing drop at 855, 877, 889, 908 and 914 respectively. Nayagarh, Dhenkanal and Ganjam had a ratio of 904, 928 and 937 respectively as per 2001 Census.
On the other hand districts like Mayurbhanj, Malkangiri, Boudh, Keonjhar, Gajapati, Nuapada, Puri and Jagatsinghpur have shown encouraging signs of increasing their child sex ratio.
Among others National Health Mission Director Rupa Mishra, special secteraty Health Dr N Das and Director Family Planning Dr B Das Mohapatra took part.