Mumbais red-light area Kamathipura sees prostitution at an all time low

If Kamathipura disappears it would be the best thing to happen to usrdquo says Yasmina Ahmed named changed who has lived all her life in the South Mumbai neighbourhood bordering Grant Road The frustration is palpable as she chats with us amidst the evening din of 8th Lane A private tuition teacher for the last 20 years Ahmed asks us to refrain from using her real name parents of her students may not be comfortable knowing where she livesShaad Towers a 26storey building in 8th Lane where the going price of a 300 sq ft flat is Rs 70 lakh offers a peak into the whitewashed future of Kamathipura PicSayyed Sameer AbediInterestingly business in Kamathipura hasnrsquot kept pace with the notoriety of the address ldquoWhy is Kamathipura still described as Asiarsquos second largest redlight district There are only 1500 sex workers left Compare that with 50000 residents Yet itrsquos them and not us who continue to define this placerdquo she arguesFor Ahmed and many like her residing in Kamathipura comes at the cost of being typecast as a member of the bordelloclub that operates in the vicinityPriti Patkarcofounder and director of PreranaBut there is hopeRedevelopment can sanitise the locality and help salvage residentsrsquo respect says AhmedOnce infamous for the arearsquos sex workers Kamathipura is on the verge of erasing its history altogether This file photograph taken in 2003 shows sex workers outside their homes soliciting customers This may soon be a thing of the past with associations either signing up or considering redevelopment PICNIMESH DAVEThe dream has found force with builders both small and big showing an interest Two highrises already stand here among narrow alleys and future residents are being lured with homes of 300 to 500sq ft as compensation for the 10x10 rooms they occupy in dilapidated structuresAnwar Shaikh owner of Mithila Builders which has acquired Bengali House on 5th Lane for redevelopmentThe result mdash the dynamics within Kamathipura are changing even if slowly ldquoProstitution has dipped by 50 per centrdquo says Priti Patkar cofounder and director of Prerana an NGO thatrsquos been working with Mumbairsquos commercial sex workers since 1986Members of the Kamathipura Vyapari and Rehvaasi Ekta Committee set up in November 2015 have been patrolling the area to make sure sex workers do not bring business to the streets ldquoBecause of them our children find it difficult to go about the areardquo says Rehana Asif Shaikh president second from left PicSuresh KarkeraDr Svati P Shah assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts who in 2014 published an ethnographic monograph on Kamathipura titled Street Corner Secrets Sex Work and Migration in the City of Mumbai projected a more abysmal figure ldquoThe Kamathipura of 2012 was greatly changed from that of 2002 The population of brothelbased sex workers in the area has dwindled from 30000 to roughly 2000rdquo she wrote Both Patkar and Shah predict that Kamathipura which found its first settlers in the 1700s among the Kamathis or construction labourers from Telangana who had arrived to help construct the various causeways that would link the seven islands of Bombay is on the brink of rebranding The only reminder of its past will be the pin code 400008Shamrao Channa president of Kamathipura Landlord Welfare Association KLWA says his association has invited tenders for redevelopment Once they finalise a builder his twostorey building above on 8th Lane along with others will go for cluster redevelopment PicSayyed SAmeer AbediAs the past both architectural and social is gradually erased the question remains Who can claim a right to Kamathipura Is it the original inhabitants who occupied it the sex workers who made it their home or the new residentsof highrisesShamrao ChannaMine not yoursDuring the Kamathipura Night Walk held last week by RaahGeer a citywalk organisation founded by architect Deepa Nandi the arearsquos transformation was for everyone to see Nandi speaks of the experiences of Brijesh Arya of NGO Pehchan who collaborated on the walk ldquoWhen Brijesh first visited Kamathipura in 2006rdquo says Nandi ldquofour or five lanes were dominated by sex workers Now only lanes 11 and 12 are in businessParticipants who attended the Kamathipura Night Walk held on May 27 by RaahGeer mdash a citywalk organisation founded by architect Deepa Nandi mdash were exposed to the changing dynamics of the area PICPRADEEP DHIVARLane 1 is the transgender street The rest are occupied by localsrdquo adds the 28yearold of the 52acre maze of 14 lanes that make up this areaDeepak Rao historianHere the lines are drawn clear with a homegrown variety of ghettoization clashes between sex workers who lsquooversteprsquo the border are everyday When midday met some residents last week they brought up ldquoSunday ka lafdardquo The events of May 29 which they refer to started with the Kamathipura Vyapari and Rehvaasi Ekta Committee asking sex workers to not solicit customers on the streets and conduct business from inside their quarters The rest of the narrative varies with each party claiming they were attacked first News of this incident has rippled across the area A banner put up by residents asking sex workers to not roam residential lanes is brandished near 8th Lane The streets are at war with each otherSangeeta a commercial sex worker CSW in her 40s who has worked in 11th lane for over 10 years tells us about the ldquoburkhewale logrdquo who have been harassing her and her friends for the last six months ldquoThey follow us even when we go to have tea at a restaurant or visit a medical shop Two days ago they beat up a woman sex worker who was pregnantrdquo she says matteroffactlyDuring one of the meetings with the CSWs at 11th Lane the group suddenly disbanded scurrying into their rooms locally called pinjras when they saw the selfappointed vigilantes stroll pastAnother CSW Sunita Yadav 54 gets tearyeyed as she relays the harassment by police and locals ldquoI have worked here for 30 years and never before have we suffered Women who claim to be residents of the area visit our lanes almost every night and manhandle us for no reason The police also randomly pick us uprdquoAccording to city history enthusiast Deepak Rao in the 1980s and lsquo90s the Mumbai police had the practice of raiding brothels when there was information about someone forced into sex trade or if there were incidents of underage girls being dragged into the business ldquoToday it is a different scenario as motives appear to have changedrdquo he saysResidents agree All they asked the Nagpada police to monitor were sex workers soliciting on the street But when the police picks up sex workers from inside the brothels residents suspect something else is afootShah in her book too alludes to this ldquothe decline of brothelbased sexual commercehellipis the result of a complex convergence of interests between real estate developers politicians local police municipality and abolitionist NGOsrdquo she writesRehana Asif Shaikh president of the Samiti had another story to tell ldquoWe have no problem with them carrying out their business after all itrsquos their bread and butter But yes we have a problem with them standing out in the open to solicit customers My parents and grandparents have lived here for years and the women would always operate from their quarters In the last few years despite the drastic drop in their numbers more women are now on the streets It has become impossible for us to walk freelyrdquo she saysThe 21member Samiti formed last November to deal with the growing ldquosex worker menacerdquo among other pressing issues in Kamathipura Sowrakshan Koyalkar secretary of the Samiti says they have nothing to do with the builder lobby as alleged by the CSWs ldquoThis is a lie We just want the roads to be made safer for our childrenrdquo she said adding ldquoKamathipura belongs to us and the Kamathis who helped construct buildings like Chhtrapati Shivaji TerminusrdquoIn need of aredlight arealdquoNo not anymorerdquo said Patkar ldquoFrankly speaking even before Kamathipura could die several places cropped up to rent out to sex workersrdquoIn the heart of Lamington Road a fiveminute drive from Kamathipura what was once a lsquosocial clubrsquo on the first floor of a residential building was in 2013 converted into a lodging house where women can rent out beds through the day When residents opposed the move they tried to buy them out with gifts mdash and partially succeeded ldquoToday if you go to CST you find women solicitingrdquo says Patkar A sex worker confirmed that because business is at an alltime low at Kamathipura they wait outside Bandra and Kalyan stations The chance of landing a customer among lakhs of commuters is highPatkarrsquos NGOrsquos data reveals that ldquoCSW hubs are now in MiraBhayendar Kalyan Vashi Virar with some women having moved to Pune and Sangli toordquoldquoThe realestate boom has expedited the changerdquo she confirms forcing CSWs to up their ante in order to attract clientele in Kamathipura ldquoJust because Kamathipura may not exist as it did it doesnrsquot mean prostitution is finished It now in fact carries on in sundry nook and crannies of Mumbai There is no longer the necessity of visiting an organised setup like a brothelrdquo Rao addsBut the loss of a stronghold could work against sex workers diminishing the feeling of a community and supportsystem The scattering of CSWs makes it hard for nonprofits and NGOs to reach out to them said a social workerDeveloper moths to a flameA number of residentsrsquo associations have sprung up aiming to hold locals united every time a builder comes knockingThe two lanes on which the brothels now operate have no such association sadlyRavi Kumar Chitla a landlord from the area is a member of Sri Sai Cooperative Housing Society He says he is tired of the white lies he says to his relatives back in Telangana ldquoI tell them I live in Mumbai Central and when they come visiting I make sure they enter the area without accessing the brothel lanesrdquo he says He owns three homes in the neighbourhood all rented out And the lane in which he lives 13th Lane is currently considering revamping the twostorey houses into highrises ldquoWhen we go into redevelopment we have the luxury of parks fire exits proper toilets and parking lotsrdquo he saysBut residents too remain divided The Kamathipura Landlords Welfare Association KLWA for instance has headed for cluster redevelopment Its president Shamrao Channa who once worked as gazette officer with the BMC came to Kamathipura after retirement to settle down with his community from Telangana He is unfazed by Kamthipurarsquos infamous association with CSWsOn 8th Lane one of Kamathipurarsquos earliest highrises have come up Shaad Towers is a 26storey building completed six months ago where the going price of a 300 sq ft apartment is Rs 70 lakh A resident who once lived in a twostorey building that sat in place of the tower now watches the goings on below from an 11th floor vantage point He soars with hope knowing that the rents which used be as low as Rs 1000 are set to only double Shaad Towers a fancy name replaces that of the earlier building named after its landlord Laxman TummaAnwar Ahmed Shaikh founder of Mithila Builders meets us in a cabin on a plot on 5th Lane A 22storey building he has planned will come up in four years in place of Bengali House which is now levelled ground The going price of one of his flats he estimates will be Rs 60 lakh a figure the middle class will find viable especially if for a home in Central Mumbai ldquoThe cost is lowrdquo he says ldquobecause the area is a redlight district This is the price you pay for flats beyond Jogeshwari We are fine with the sex workers operating out of wherever they are In fact redevelopment might mean that they get more customers right within this areardquoWill Kamathipura in the near future be a name that residents proudly embrace Shaikh is positive ldquoIf Kamathipura is redeveloped and gets a new name the locals even if living in 100 sq ft homes will be as happy as residents of Peddar Road The lsquodaagrsquo will be gonerdquo