Sexed-UP polls

Shabeena is among the lucky 1,500 sex workers here who have been enrolled by the Election Commissionu00a0 and have received voter ID cards.

There are over 4,000 sex workers on the GB Road but till last general elections only 300 of them had voter ID cards and an even lesser number had any urge to go out and exercise their right to franchise.

But thanks an enthusiastic Election Commission which sent its representatives from door to door to ensure that the maximum number should get registered over 1500 of the prostitutes have voter ID cards. Coupled with the poll panel's good work an NGO working among the sex workers has been able to instill among them the confidence that they can get themselves counted, if they would vote.

"We all will vote but only for the person, who will fulfill our long-pending demands," said, Shabeena, who is also the vice-president of GB Road sex workers association.

The 500-metre stretch that is called the GB Road and its 4,000 sex workers are a source of livelihood to some 8,000 people, including the pimps and those who run errands at the kothas.

So far, only the mistresses of the kothas used to go out to vote but now all of them who have got their voter ID cards are raring to exercise their franchise. "We are very thankful to the administration for these voter cards, we have been assured that with these cards we will get ration cards and other facilities like free ration. We hope that our other demands are also met," said Sanam, another sex worker.

Business not as usual

Eighty per cent of the kothas have been facing closure as customers have fallen drastically, it was claimed. Apart from that the sex workers said that the hostile pimps not only scare away customers but also take away a major share of the earnings.

"Our customers are looted and whisked away if they refuse give commission to the pimps. They demand huge sums to bring customers and therefore there is no saving. What will we do when we are out of work? The administration should free us from the clutches of dalals," she said.

The sex workers reiterated their long-pending demand of legalizing prostitution.

"Give us licenses and mark the areas for us. If somebody wants to earn his or her livelihood by selling his body why should it not be allowed? It will also help in checking human trafficking as it will help the authorities to clearly define a sex worker," said Shabeena.

"When we become old, there is nobody to take care of us," said Rubina, another sex worker, demanding old-age homes or hostels for those in the flesh trade.

"A prisoner, who kill a person or commit some other heinous crime, is given an opportunity to earn some money in jails, why cant we be given same opportunity to work somewhere after we retire from here," she asked.

(All names given in the story have been changed)

Piece of history

GB Road was named after a British collector, Garstin Bastion, who consolidated five red light areas in the city into one

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