The moves for as many as five child marriages have been foiled across Ganjam district following swift action by the administration, officials said on Sunday.

While three attempts to marry off three minor girls were thwarted in Hinjili block, two such attempts were foiled in Sanakhemundi and Bhanjanagar blocks on Saturday, they said.

All the girls were aged between 15 and 17 years.

Officials of the district administration, police personnel and activists of an NGO went to the villages after getting information about the attempts to marry off the girls.

Though the concerned families were initially reluctant to drop the idea of marrying off the girls, later they realised that such practices are illegal, officials said.

“We convinced the parents and they gave undertakings that they will not get their daughters married till they attain the age 18 years,” coordinator of Childline NGO Sai Prasad Samal said.

Earlier in the first week of this month, the district administration had stopped at least seven such proposed child marriages. And the district administration had foiled as many as 42 such cases in 2019, sources said.

More awareness is needed to prevent child marriages in the district, child rights activist Sudhir Sabat said.

The district administration has launched an initiative called ‘Nirbhaya Kadhi’ to prevent child marriages. Besides, a ‘Mu Sachetan’ (I am aware) programme has also been launched in the schools by the administration to create awareness against child marriage.