Goa's sex workers vote to save their homes

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Goa's sex workers vote to save their homes.

Baina (Goa), Apr 26 (ANI):

Sex workers in Goa turned up in hundreds to vote on Monday, their

last bid at saving their homes, which are to be soon demolished under

a government order. The Baina beach is infamous for flesh trade with

sex workers operating in some 250 hutments.

The entire area will be razed to ground in the coming months with

dozens of sex workers who are from outside the state being deported.

After months of rallying and protests, the women have been promised

by their candidate that if elected he would save their colony or at

least ensure a good rehabilitation package.

Upbeat about the promises, the women braved blazing heat standing

hours in queues to vote.

" It has been 20 years. Our children have grown here, our

grandchildren have grown here. We do not want anything else. We just

want house, employment for our children, health services, " Ingappa, a

sex worker said. " If they force us to move out of this place then

where will we go?, " asked Ramona, another sex worker.

Husen Bibi, another sex worker, also alleged that they were being

harassed by the local authorities.

" For the past five-six months we do not have anything. These people

are harassing us a lot. Where will we go they have almost driven us

out of our houses. We need these houses, " Bibi said.

Goa is one of the favoured tourist destinations in the country and

has recently seen a rise in commercial sex-related activity. Though

prostitution is illegal in India, all major cities have

" red light areas " where prostitutes can be hired for a pittance.

NGOs have been demading a legislation to ensure labour status for the

prostitutes for over seven years now, but to no avail.

Most prostitutes, estranged from social security systems and

ostracised by society, lead extremely sorry lives.

Basic assistance like ration cards, health cards and identity cards

is rarely possible to attain and most cannot even avail of medical

facilities.

They live in derogatory conditions, with most of them falling prey to

various sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS. Ninety-four

percent of the country's three million sex workers are Indians, while

the rest are mainly from neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal. At least

600,000 minors are also employed in the profession and their number

is said to increasing by almost 10 per cent every year.

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