Malda district administration ropes in decorators to check child marriages

The district administration of Malda has come up with a novel way to curb marriages of minors and for this, they have roped in the decorators (those who construct pandals and supply chairs, tables and utensils for marriage ceremonies).

The decorators of Malda district will have to keep records of the age of the bride and groom of the wedding ceremony they receive contracts for.

The license of the concerned decorator is subject to cancellation if found to have worked in a marriage of a minor girl.The step has been taken by the district administration to curb early marriage and minimise teenage pregnancy thereby diminishing maternal and infant mortality rates. Twenty per cent of teenage pregnancies from the age of 16 to 19, came to the notice of the district administration which in turn prompted the administration to take the decision. This was announced in a meeting of the district Health and Family Welfare Samiti held recently. Further, the midwives and the quack doctors of the district are also to be sensitised to persuade the would-be mothers and their families to go for an institutional delivery of the new-born instead of home delivery. This will also ensure a drop in maternal and infant mortality rates.

Nitin Singhania, District Magistrate Malda, said: “We want to bring the rate of teenage pregnancy, early marriage, maternal and infant mortality rates to the lowest level with zero tolerance. All the aspects to curb this are being verified. Stringent action will be taken against the person liable for these acts. We have taken many important decisions in the meeting.” From now, the auxiliary nurse and midwife (ANM) and accredited social health activists (ASHA) will be directed to have meetings with teenage married women on Fridays and Saturdays to sensitise the latter over using various ways of contraception. The association of decorators will be asked to keep registers bearing the details of the persons getting married and their ages with addresses and phone numbers to check if they are minors.

Again, in different blocks of the district like Baishnabnagar and Harishchandrapur, the waiting sheds for the kin of the patients are going to be improved.This will eradicate the possibility of a family avoiding institutional delivery owing to the absence of accommodation for the patient party during delivery. In some places, the administration will also improve road connectivity between villages and medical institutions through various projects like Pathasree to transport the expecting mothers smoothly for institutional delivery.

A drop in institutional delivery in two Gram Panchayats of Harishchandrapur prompted the administration to take the step with immediate effect.