Hyderabad: The Telangana Government which aims to convert Yadadri into a Tirupati, faces a challenge in rehabilitating around 100 families depending on sex work for livelihood. They have been living in the town for more than a decade.
As a move to clean up the temple town, the government has been organising campaigns to drive them out of the town. The victims who have been depending on this profession for generations, though ready to comply with the government's move, demand rehabilitation for themselves and quality education for their children.
The government has vowed to end the flesh trade going on in Angadi Bazaar, Ganesh Nagar and Yadgarpally areas of the town. Most of them are either forced into this or enter it on their own to meet their family's needs.
“I grew up in this area, with my mother in this profession. Now that she has become old and sick, I have to take care of her and also repay debts. As I could not attend school in childhood this was the only option for me,” a 26-year-old woman said.
The 112 families of sex workers, whose members have been in the flesh trade for several decades in the temple town, have agreed to leave the profession if the government provides them rehabilitation. How-ever, these families have sought free education for their children until they get employed.
“We are ready to come out of this, but no one will give us work or treat us as humans. Even the people who come to us harass us in all possible ways,” another woman said.
When former SP Vikram Jeet Duggal placed this issue before the chief secretary and the DGP during a review in August 2015 he was told to submit a report on the status of sex workers and possibilities of rehabilitation. Details of 427 people from 112 families including 147 women and 104 men have been collected. Police also found that 176 of them are school or college going children.
“A proposal has been sent to the government recommending free education for the children and subsidised loans for adults to set up shops on the temple premises and employment in industries in surrounding areas,” a senior police official from Nalgonda said. However, things have not moved till date. However, the police says the menace has come down drastically.
