Hyderabad: With wedding season on and December being the party season, a lot of young college-going girls and women artistes are out till late in the night due to the business of entertainment.
Many work as dancers, mehendi artists in wedding, anchors and promoters in malls and are left to make their own way home at night. The unorganised sector does not take responsibility of their safety.
Naaz Khan, an anchor working at a mall, said, “The shift ends at 8.30 pm and after that I have to go home on my own. I stay in Barkatpura and it takes at two hours to reach. My family keeps calling to check on me.”
With the wedding season on, a lot of mehendi artists (mostly women) come from various areas for work. These women are provided a drop till a bus stop from where they are left to fend for themselves.
Nagma Ahmed, a mehendi artist, said, “Since the rise in assaults against women we have been told to wait for the bus. I never go alone and have joined a group close to my house so that we can come back home safely.”
Event managers hire women but don’t want to be responsible for them. An event manager in the city said, “It’s not part of the deal. It is understood that people will come on their own and go back home safely.”
Clients call us for eight pairs of hands for mehendi but when we reach we find that there are 15 pairs. Sometimes we leave at 10 pm and reach home not before 11.30. But we are clear that we will not opt for share autos or even share cabs as that can be dangerous.”
While event managers appoint them, no one is willing to provide transport. An event manager in the city said, “Its not part of the deal. It is understood that people will come on their own and go back home safely.
These aspects are never discussed. Either people are not sensitive or the cost factor keeps these social aspects out of discussion. Out of 100 clients, there will be one who will go to the basic details and opt for providing transport. For the remaining 99, it is not a matter of discussion.”
