Apparently, the demonetization drive has not alone hit the major section of a middle-class people in the society and a small time businessman, but it has also hit the people engaged into the world’s oldest profession. The red light area in Bihar seems to have hit very hard by the demonetization drive initiated by Modi government. The sex workers have welcomed the decision of demonetization drive of Modi Ji, but they still have something to tell to Mr. Modi.
According to the sources, the business of sex workers in Bihar’s largest red light area has been hit hard by the Modi government’s demonetisation drive. The scrapping of the 1000 and 500 notes have made their livelihood very difficult. The sources have revealed that the Sex workers of “Chaturbhuj Sthan” area in Muzaffarpur are fighting for the survival as they get paid only in cash and they are not getting any more customers after the scrapping of the 500 rupees notes.
Most of the sex workers making their livelihood in this area belong to West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal and Jharkhand said the sources. According to them, the situation has become so much worse that they are unable to feed their kids due to no business after the demonetization.
Besides the regular sex workers, the others who are working at the Kothas (Kotha is the place where the ladies perform a dance to please the customers) are also facing the brunt of the demonetization move, said the sources. “Many days have passed without a visitor,” Akram Khan, a tabla player at one of the kothas, said.
The sources have also revealed that the movement of customers have reduced to quite an extent as the sex workers are not accepting the notes of Rs. 500 and 1000 anymore. Some of them rued that they were already reeling under a crisis after the state government brought in prohibition policy that led to a fall in the number of customers. “We support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision. But, he should have thought of people like us,” said a sex worker.
What they are saying is from the point of view of the business they run and this point is a valid point raised by much small time businessman in India. Hundreds of thousands of local vendors are facing the loss of business due to demonetization while the big time businessman is virtually having no effects on their business.
