Following the Supreme Court order, Maharashtra has become the first state to provide financial aid to the sex workers. Maharashtra government on Thursday has decided to provide financial aid of Rs 5,000 to all the sex workers in the state in view of the ongoing Covid crisis.
The sex workers who have school-going children will get extra financial assistance of Rs 2,500 from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Agadhi government.
“Sex workers have been helped by the state government during the pandemic. We have just issued a GR under which the right to livelihood has been made available to sex workers in the state. Maharashtra is the first state to come up with such a provision. We have allocated Rs 51.18 crore towards the same,” said Yashomati Thakur, Women and Child Development Minister of Maharashtra.
Thakur also stated that there are almost 31,000 beneficiaries identified by the Maharashtra government through the National Aids Control Organisation and those beneficiaries will not have to provide any identity card to avail the assistance.
Sex workers from across the country are encountering an unprecedented crisis due to the pandemic situation.
Recently, the apex court had issued an order directing states to further inform their District Collectors to formulate a committee to provide food, grains, and financial help to the sex worker whose income had significantly reduced during this pandemic.
