Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government on Monday claimed that children were being "misused" in anti-Posco agitation and directed Jagatsinghpur district administration to submit a report on it by tomorrow.
"We will take action against the persons responsible for misusing children. Civil society will never tolerate use of children below 18 years of age in any agitation," Orissa's
Women and Child Development minister Anjali Behera told a news agency.
"I have asked the District Social Welfare Officer
to give a report on children participating in the anti-Posco
agitation by tomorrow," Behera said.
The minister said the official was asked to verify
whether the children participated in the agitation on their
own or were engaged by persons or organisations.
Stating that children should not be used in any form
of agitation under any circumstances even by their parents,
she said, the official was also instructed to verify whether
the children sitting on dharna in sun and rain belonged to the
Dhinkia gram panchayat or they were hired from somewhere else.
PTI
First Published: Monday, June 20, 2011, 17:28