Amid nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19, sex workers in North Kolkata’s Sonagachi, a huge red-light area, are facing a massive financial crisis and trying to make their ends meet.

‘Due to the lockdown and coronavirus scare, clients have stopped visiting Sonagachi. We are facing an acute crisis as we are totally dependent on clients. We are just hoping and waiting for things to get normal,’ NDTV quoted the Secretary of Durbar Committee (sex worker committee), Kajal Bose, as saying.

Visiting the area on March 30, Monday, West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja raised awareness among the sex-workers on COVID-19, and distributed face masks and ration.

‘Today I am at the Sonagachi red light area in North Kolkata in my constituency. We are trying to reach out to almost 1,500 sex workers, who are in distress due to the lockdown. We are giving them dry ration today, which includes rice, pulses and potato,’ Ms Panja told ANI.

‘Tomorrow (Tuesday), we will be serving them cooked meals. Along with this, we are explaining to them the prevailing situation and how we must be careful. We are also giving them masks to use. They are also being made aware of using sanitiser before taking the ration,’ she added.

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