Bhubaneswar: A total of 1,35,074 cases have been registered in different police stations across Odisha in the last eight months, of which maximum number of cases were registered in Ganjam district.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi informed this in the State Assembly today while replying to a question of Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati.
However, the law and order situation has remained under control and the state government is committed to ensure rule of law and maintain order in the State, the CM said.
If law and order situation arises in any place, the police immediately intervene in the matter and take necessary action against the accused as per law, Shri Majhi stated.
In another reply, he said 20,060 missing person cases have been registered in different parts of Odisha during June 2024 to February 2025.
In a written reply to a query by Congress MLA Sofia Firdous, Shri Majhi informed that out of 20,060 missing person cases, 7048 persons have been traced while 13,012 remained untraced. Notably, the BJP has formed a government in Odisha on June 12, 2024.
Informing about the reasons for the delay in resolving the pending cases and the challenges faced in tracing out the missing persons, Majhi said there is delay in reporting of missing persons by the relatives especially due to social stigma, ignorance and other reasons.
Some persons proceed outside the state for work without informing the family members for which they report them as missing, he said.
“There are also missing cases of girls in which minor girls have eloped with boys/men and evade police notice due to fear of criminal prosecution against the boys/ men with whom they have been living,” the Chief Minister said in the written statement.
In a good number of cases, the informant and relatives of the missing persons hesitate to disclose the actual facts before police initially, due to various reasons, which also led to delay in resolving the cases, he stated.
He further said that the Ministry of Women and Child Development had launched Mission Vatsalya portal with primary objective to track and reunite missing and recovered children with their families.
However, the details regarding children institutionalized in Child Care Institutions (CCIs) across the country are not being uploaded by Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), CCIs etc across the country for which it is difficult to link these children to the missing cases of children of different police stations in Odisha, Shri Majhi further stated.
Further, he said, integration of facial recognition software into Mission Vatsalya Portal will go a long way in establishing the identity of such children and in re-integrating them with their parents.
On steps taken by Odisha government to deal with the challenges, the CM said steps are being taken to fill up vacancies in Integrated Anti Human Trafficking Unit (IAHTU), Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU) and Police Stations to improve the staff position for better response in cases of missing reports.
Funds amounting to Rs 3.24 crore have been proposed to strengthen the SJPUs of all districts for hiring of vehicles with drivers for transportation of rescued children for reintegration with their family.
Similarly, funds amounting to Rs 2.61 crore have also been proposed to strengthen the IUCAWs of 29 districts for hiring vehicles with drivers for IUCAW which will also be used for transportation of rescued children and women for reintegration with their family, he noted.
“This will improve the mobility of these units so that improved responses are made by Police towards tracing and rescue of missing persons at district level,” the CM said.
Besides, the government has proposed for providing funds to Mahila (women) and Sishu (children) desks of all 649 police stations to cover expenditure towards food and other expenses in connection with rescue of the missing women and children.
Further, Rs 19.47 crore have been projected to provide Rs 25,000 per Mahila and Sishu Desk of each police station on monthly basis, he added.