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Updated: Aug 08, 2019 16:52 IST

Two unidentified newborn girls were found abandoned in hilly Gajapati area in coastal Balasore district of Odisha in the last 24 hours, bringing into focus the condition of girl children in the state where the child sex ratio has been steadily declining.

In Balasore district, a woman found a baby girl abandoned in Salabani village under Nilagiri block on Wednesday night. When housewife Arati Singh heard a baby’s cries on Wednesday night, she rushed out of her home to find a girl lying abandoned on the roadside. She gathered the locals and they rushed the baby to the district headquarters hospital. The baby is believed to be stable, doctors said.

In a separate incident, a newborn girl was rescued from a forest at Adaba village in Gajapati district on Wednesday morning. Medical officer of Mohana, Dr Amitraj Jena said a few cowherds who had gone to the forest to graze their cattle, spotted the baby and rushed her to a nearby hospital. The baby had been bitten by ants all over her body.

According to the National Family Health Survey-4 released in 2015-16, there were 934 girls in the 0-6 age group for every 1000 boys in Odisha. The child sex ratio was 953 for 1000 boys during the 2001 census.

In February this year, a newborn girl was found abandoned in a critical condition in a secluded place in Bhubaneswar. The baby girl had been attacked by stray dogs and a mongoose when she was rescued by locals.