InterPress News Service (IPS); Wednesday, 20 August 1997.
Meena Menon

Located on a barren stretch of land, this shed is one of the many 'dhabas' or eating places that dot the Solapur-Hyderabad highway, which provide women as an "additional service" to truck drivers and motorists.

The woman who runs the 'dhaba' was a sex worker earlier. Now, with a shed, two cots and a few girls from the nearby villages, she is in business.

"I rent this place for 1,000 rupees (85 dollars) a month and take 20 rupees per client from the girls," she said. "The police harass us often, but I cannot even bribe them. They told me it was beneath their dignity to take 'haftas' (bribes) from me because I am a woman."

While she is speaking, her girls arrive, clutching small bags. They will spend the night here and return home in the morning. There are about eight of them, most look in their teens.

Further down the highway, the car's headlight picks up a group of women sitting on the side of the road, in the moonless night. A closer look reveals their trademark garish make-up and bright saris. "I came here because I saw other women in finery," one says. "But there really is not much to flaunt or to be proud of in this business," she mockingly adds.

Behind them on the low-lying marshy land, are the huts in which they live. Flimsy constructions of sticks and twigs, the inside is spartan; a partition separates the living space from the area where clients are entertained. There is a sheet and pillow on the floor, and in one corner, a pile of used condoms.

J, who did not want to be identified, is from a village near Bijapur town. She said she ran away from home to Pune, a city near Bombay, after a quarrel. It was there that she was absorbed into the sex business by a woman who befriended her, she says. Soon after, another one of these nameless, faceless contacts brought her to the Solapur-Hyderabad highway.

"I work till midnight," she said. "When we are alone we sit here on the road because it is too dangerous to sit alone in our houses," she said. There they are easy prey for drunken men and others who regularly force their way inside, and rape them.

The women seem to live in fear. They complain of being beaten by men, who wanted sex for free, and harassed by the police, who make use of the fact that prostitution is illegal in India. "We are here because of our bad luck," said one young girl. "I had no choice after I was deserted by my husband."

India's highways with trucks, buses, vehicles thundering past night and day are increasingly turning into impromptu earning grounds for girls and women who are either compelled by circumstances into prostitution or enter on their own.

Prostitution thrives on poverty and lack of employment in this area, where for centuries a form of prostitution called the 'Devdasi' has flourished, though it is now banned.

But soliciting on the highway is extremely dangerous, with the police not caring what happens to them because they are prostitutes.

Neither do they register complaints of assault on sex workers, says Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha (SANGRAM), an NGO that works here with sex workers. Recently during a police raid, when a woman who was trying to flee the police in the dark, stumbled into a well and was killed, they did nothing, activists said.

For the last five years, SANGRAM has been working closely with sex workers on highways along the border districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka states, raising awareness of health problems and providing care. Sangli, where the NGO is based, has been identified by the government of Maharashtra as the most vulnerable district to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

With sex workers in the high-risk group, two years ago SANGRAM launched a highway health outreach programme, a concept promoted by the government for condom distribution, which has been quite effective.

At first, it was NGO activists who took the condoms to the highway 'dhabas. Now, the women are organised in collectives of 40 members each, called the Veshya AIDS Muqabla Parishads (VAMP) which in 1996 distributed roughly 2 million condoms. There are 120 groups in the Karnataka-Maharashtra border alone, each with a leader who is paid 100 rupees to take the condoms from government-run health centres and distribute it to group members.

Going from 'dhaba' to 'dhaba', distributing condoms is not easy work. "Each time they put their life on the line," says SANGRAM's Meena Seshu. "They travel all night, often in dangerous conditions and generally always, alone. Instead of harassing them, the police should give them security."

In five years, the NGO has been able to create considerable awareness of the importance of safe sex. Some women have participated in government programmes for AIDS prevention and cure. SANGRAM also found 'dhaba' owners were supportive because their income depends on these women.

According to Seshu, "We made sure the women had the power to negotiate the use of condoms." (End/IPS/mm/an/97)

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