Bhubaneswar, Aug. 28: A two-day national convention on interstate co-ordination on trafficking of girls and women organised by Odisha State Commission for Women started here today.

Representatives from the commissions of 15 states expressed concern over the trafficking of women from Odisha on the pretext of marriage and work. Experts called for an interstate blue print to check human trafficking following cases in which teens were married to men in Rajasthan and Haryana, states with low sex ratios.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau report, 2,455 women were kidnapped in Odisha in 2014, of whom 1,313 were trafficked on the pretext of marriage.

"Human trafficking, a form of organised crime, is penetrating deeper. Enormous coordination is required at various departments to fight the evil," said chairperson of National Commission for Women Lalitha Kumarmangalam said. Odisha is among the top five sourcing states in terms of human trafficking, which also includes Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bengal and Assam, she said.

Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said that the state has initiated steps to contain trafficking of women. "The most significant of such steps is the setting up of integrated anti-human trafficking units in all districts," he said.

"Operation Smile was launched by state police in January 2015 which resulted in the rescue of 335 children from different parts of the state. Similarly the state police rescued 87 children from 10 other states in July this year. The women and child development department is initiating appropriate steps for reuniting children with their families. Many of the rescued children who are reported as missing, in fact, were trafficked," Naveen said.