• POSTERS, BANNERS, HOARDINGS and Ganesh Pandals of Kamathipura caution people about the spread of COVID-19 discouraging -sex buyers from entering the place

Mumbai, 29 August, 2020 (GPN): Even as Mumbai unlocks, the residents and business owners of Kamathipura are working tirelessly to ensure that their area doesn’t become a Covid hotspot due to the redlight area in their vicinity.

The residents recently started a poster drive and pasted over 250 posters across the streets, brothels, Ganesh Pandals of Kamathipura, cautioning people about the spread of COVID-19 and discouraging -sex buyers from entering the place.

The poster initiative was supported by Mr. Rukesh Girolla, a social activist, representative of Sainath Mitra Mandal, and Mr. Suresh Pabba, a resident and social worker. A month ago, over 1,000 residents and business owners of Kamathipura undersigned letter to Chief Minister Mr. Uddhav Thackrey, MP of Mumbai South Mr. Arvind Sawant, and Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai Mr. Iqbal Chahal, requesting a strict vigilance to keep sex buyers away from entering the locality.

Kamathipura residents said that during the lockdown, there was no business in the brothel which led to only a few cases of COVID-19 infection. However, post unlocking, there has been a drastic increase in number of sex-buyers frequenting the area and sex workers are also seen soliciting on the streets. Customers come to Kamathipura-Faukland area from all over Mumbai, and they could become potential carriers of COVID-19 virus. Locals fear that it is just a matter of time before the sex workers get infected and the virus starts spreading uncontrollably in the area making the region a super spreader.

Mr. Sameer Sable, Member of Raj Mudra Pratishthan and Members of Kamathipura Vyapari and Rehavasi Ekta committee, stated, “Mask, gloves, hand sanitizers and condoms cannot protect customers or commercial sex workers from getting infected as maintaining social distance in sex trade is a laughable fact. It is a dark reality, men visiting these brothels can be the potential virus carriers. Thus, the infection once spread in the redlight area can easily spread around the community,”.

The city has so far reported 1,40,888 covid cases, taking the death toll to 7,535.

Kamathipura, infamous for the sprawling red light area has been one of the few places in Mumbai that has managed to keep Covid cases under control. When Mumbai went under lockdown, Kamathipura residents and business owners came together to ensure that the rules of lockdown are strictly adhered. Despite the city’s upward trajectory of covid cases, Kamathipura has managed to keep the cases within the range of a few hundreds, and the community efforts have played a significant role in keeping the area under the green zone.

Mr. Rukesh Girolla, stated, “Schools, colleges, shops have remained shut to contain the spread of the virus. In such a situation, I am shocked that sex buyers are being allowed to freely roam outside. Has buying sex become an essential activity?” The residents are hopeful that the authorities will set-up mechanisms of strict vigilance to keep the customers out of red light areas until the end of the pandemic. ENDS