The village with a population of 400 has 180 women and most of them are involved
in the flesh trade. The people are nomadic and the desert climate makes
agriculture difficult. Consequently, the men allow the women to take up sex
work to sustain their families.
But thanks to the initiatives of the district administration, things are
changing. Suryaben, 42, said she has not been entertaining "clients" for the
last one year. "It is sheer poverty that led us to prostitution," Suryaben,
president of the local mahila cooperative society which helps rehabilitate sex
workers, said.
"When I took to flesh trade, I was following a family tradition. But men who
used to come to my doorstep have not turned up ever since I decided to lead a
normal life," Suryaben said.
In a meeting convened by the district officials earlier this month to discuss
their rehabilitation, many women pledged to shun prostitution. District
collector Hareet Shukla gave Rs 25,000 each to three families of commercial sex
workers for cattle farming and laid the foundation for a community hall in the
meeting.
The collector said besides building 70 houses at a cost of Rs 60,000 with the
help of a local non-profit organisation, the district administration was also
renovating the village school.
Resident deputy collector J S Prajapati said: "The administration with the help
of an NGO, the MG Patel Trust of Amirgadh, gave money to three families of sex
workers and Rs 36,000 to one Kanjibhai Khodabhai to set up a floor mill in the
village."
He said each family would be given money under the rehabilitation package. "We
have already allotted 205 acres of land to the villagers so that the women can
take to alternative vocations."
Devabhai Malabhai, who has been given a cheque for Rs 36,000 for cattle
farming, said, "We have a source of income now. Why should our women do this
degrading work?"
Manisha (name changed) said: "It was abject poverty that drove me to
prostitution. It is good that remedial measures are being suggested and our
problems are being highlighted."
The district collector said: "The main objective behind our efforts is to see
that the village gets rid of its stigma. We want the media to take up the issue
and highlight the problem of the village so that the unfortunate women can earn
respectable livelihoods."
