Dubbing the alleged child sale incident as a "shame" for the state, Odisha's minister Damodar Rout today blamed it on the failure of family planning programme.
"What can the government do if couples go on producing children and selling them one after another," Cooperation and Excise minister Damodar Rout asked while reacting over the recent child sale incident in the state capital.
The police have meanwhile rescued the 22-day-old child from Jagatsinghpur who was allegedly sold by his parents for Rs 6,000.
Stating that no government can do anything if the parents go on producing child and selling them, Rout appealed not to make it a political issue as the opposition raised the matter in the assembly.
Rout said child sale was not acceptable for the government and the people of Odisha. "What can any government do if a couple produces child to sale them away for money," the minister asked.
Earlier, while demanding a statement from the Chief Minister in the Assembly, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra had also dubbed the child sale incident as a "shame" for the state.
Shyam Chandra Rao and his wife Pramila, resident of Press Colony here, have allegedly sold three of their children for money as per the complaints lodged at the Kharvel Nagar police station in Unit-III area.
The couple have given birth to seven children of which they allegedly sold three children, two inside Odisha and one in Kolkata.
