Drive to accept food coupon applications from sex workers
Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government has started a special drive for accepting application of food coupon from the sex workers so that they can avail of the facilities of dry ration.
The move follows in the wake of Supreme Court directing all states and union territories to supply dry rations to sex workers identified by the National AIDS Control Organisation and district legal authorities without insisting on the production of identity documents like ration card amid the pandemic.
The State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) led by its executive chairman Sanjib Banerjee, Justice of Calcutta High Court is responsible for coordination with the government to ensure that no single sex worker in the state is left out .
It may be noted that the state Food department in coordination with the state Women and Child Development department have distributed relief among a section of sex workers during the lockdown period considering their severe distress. Since the occasion of the World Food Day (October 16), the state government has already reached out to around 28,000 sex workers and transgenders and short statured persons with relief in the form of dry ration that includes 3 kg rice, 1 kg masoor dal and clothes. The distribution was held on October 16 at six locations in Kolkata where red light areas are located – Nilmoni Mitra Street, Bowbazar, Kalighat, Chetla, Watgunge and Ganesh Chandra Avenue.
"The sex workers are in distressed condition and are going through financial hardship. We designated nodal officers in respective districts for smooth distribution of the relief materials," said Shashi Panja, Minister of state for Women and Child Development and Social Welfare
As per estimates of SLSA , there are over 4 lakh sex workers across the state among whom 70 per cent are yet to have access to regular ration or food coupon.
"We have already interacted with the organisations in the state that are working with the sex workers and the para legal volunteers (PLB) for identifying the sex workers so that they can be brought under the ambit of the regular rationing system," said Durga
Khaitan, Member Secretary of SLSA.
SLSA had observed World Food Day by distributing food grains among 5,000 sex workers in different parts of the state including the red light areas of Kolkata.
