Promises fail, prostitution stays in village

However, Bhatt claims that six-month supply of wheat had been distributed to each house and that further aid had only been withdrawn because the villagers had not quit prostitution. He also insists two borewells had been provided to the villagers. Confronted with the facts, his only response was: “I will set up an inquiry commission to look into the matter.”

The helpless villagers show a letter from former collector Anuradha Mall waiving their outstanding water dues, only to add that when the new one took over, he reimposed the bills.

The women had also been promised sewing machines and training in stitching as a means of livelihood. But not a single household has seen a sewing machine.

Today, the families are deeper in debt, even as the harassment from nearby villages continues. They are accused of willingly sending their daughters, sisters and wives into the flesh trade. Wadia has only one approach road — a narrow, dirt trail — and pits have been dug on the other roads by the nearby villagers, leaving it virtually cut-off. Lalo Malo, an elder of the neighbouring Vadgam village, says: “We would not allow them to enter our village, let alone give them work. They are sinners.”

But as Wadia village leader Rupabhai says: “None of our girls got into prostitution willingly. When families go hungry with no source of income, and men are without work, the responsibility falls on the women…They trade their bodies so that their children may live.”

Many village women have tried to marry and settle down, but in vain. In rare cases where people from outside did come forward, they left the women after a couple of months.

Bhiki, barely 25 years’ old, is married and expecting a child. She has six other members in the family to support, including a jobless husband and a widowed mother-in-law. Ushaben, a widow at 28, has five children and her own parents and in-laws dependent on her.

None of them has any property or employment. But they do not want to talk about their plight. "We are sick and tired of giving statements to government officials, politicians and the press," they say. And add bitterly: "Those very people from villages around us who ostracise us come here in the cover of the night."

Incidentally, Bhatt had also promised to share Bhaibij no gol (sweetmeats on Bhaibij) with the Wadia women. But since he left, he has not bothered to take a second look at their plight.