ROURKELA: A poverty-stricken woman surrendering her sixth baby to the district child welfare committee (CWC) and fresh allegation of a child sale for Rs 20,000 has put the panel in a fix.
In the first incident, the woman of Tikayatpali police limits in Bonai sub-division of Sundargarh had delivered her sixth child at S Balang community health centre (CHC) on September 18. According to CWC member Bal Mukunda Shukla, the mother expressed her inability to take care of the newborn and produced the baby before the CWC which sent to the specialised adoption centre at Bisra block following due procedure.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the CWC received a complaint which cited that a poor woman of Hating village in Koida had delivered her sixth child at a hospital at Rourkela. When the woman returned home without her newborn, local ASHA worker inquired and found that the woman sold the child for Rs 20,000 as she was unable to raise her. In both cases, Shukla said, it was cited that after the women conceived, their husbands died.
Sundargarh ChildLine district coordinator Jitu Patel confirmed receiving the complaint from the CWC. He said efforts are underway to track the ASHA and the woman for verification.
District child protection officer Sribanta Jena said investigation is on and if the allegation of child sale turns out to be true, then appropriate legal action would be initiated and the baby would be rescued.
