Raipur, July 28 - The opposition Congress staged a walkout Tuesday in the Chhattisgarh assembly, accusing the state's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of doing little to prevent trafficking of thousands of youth, mainly girls, from poor families to metros.

The house witnessed a heated debate when the government replied in the assembly it was doing its best to trace out an estimated 7,000 people missing in the state for many years.

This prompted Congress legislator and former home minister Nandkumar Patel to ask the government to explain how thousands of girls, mainly from Raigarh and Jashpur districts, were missing. He alleged that the government had failed to contain a racket in trafficking minor girls.