Braving Covid-19 to help Kolkata’s sex workers

and customers.

If red-light areas are kept closed following the lifting of lockdown, there can be a delay in the peak of Covid-19 cases by 36 days in Kolkata, the study estimated. While the science behind the study was sound, it did not account for the deep economic crisis that the sex workers had been plunged into.

“A resident, Moti Sur, did a quick survey and identified 250 people in need of help. Sur knows the area and the residents for years. There was no opposition from the police. They usually never stop charity work,” said Indira Kanjilal, an editor of a business magazine, and member of the core team.

Sur took into account how many children and old persons were there in each household, as well as kept track of those who were extremely poor or unwell.

Around five volunteers visited Sonagachi six times, each time with 250 kits comprised five kilos of rice, two kilos of flour, one kilo of lentils, besides salt and oil. All the volunteers worse masks as they went into the lanes, and the women would come out and collect it from them to maintain effective physical distance.

Then Cyclone Amphan hit the coast of West Bengal on May 20, leaving 98 dead and a million people displaced. “Friends and acquaintances started donating funds the moment we spread the word on social media. Our work increased manifold after Cyclone Amphan ravaged south Bengal districts. So far we have helped around 10,000 people,” Bhattacharya estimated.