NCW takes up Mumbai bar dancers’ cause with state govt

Speaking up for hundreds of dancers who have been rendered jobless with the Democratic Front government banning dance bars across Maharashtra, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has demanded a comprehensive rehabilitation package for the affected girls.

NCW chief Girija Vyas told The Indian Express that Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was ‘‘open and positive’’ about initiating a dialogue with the dancers. Vyas spoke to Deshmukh on Wednesday and asked him to ‘‘take cognizance of the human problem arising out of the closure of bars’’. She said she would visit Mumbai soon to discuss the rehabilitation package. She also said that the NCW would insist on an across-the-board package for all the girls, both locals and outsiders. The state government, she said, did not consult the girls, who take up odd jobs due to compulsions, before ordering closure of all the dance bars.

Former NCW chairperson Poornima Advani has also warned that if steps were not taken to rehabilitate the girls, some of them could fall into the trap of mafias which run “sex tourism” in Mumbai.