TRADE-OFF

At the rickshaw-stand in Moradabad, you will find as many kidneys as you want. After all, these impoverished labourers have nothing to lose

Even as the country reacts in horror to the recent kidney trade controversy, people in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, have been surprisingly stoic. Actually, it8217;s not surprising considering that illegal kidney sales have been going on for years in this city. Rickshaw-pullers, beggars and labourers are approached almost every day by touts asking for their kidneys in lieu of money.

The main reason for Moradabad rickshaw-stands and pavements to have turned into a human organs bazaar is the death of its cottage industry. At one time, Moradabad was known as the brass city Peetal Nagri and stood fifth in the world in copper, bronze and brass exporting, is almost dead. Today, children and skilled labourers are being forced to ply rickshaws to earn their livelihood as most know of noe other mode of survival and don8217;t have the money for proper meals. Little wonder then that are willing to sell their body parts for paltry sums of money.

When The Indian Express spoke to rickshaw-pullers, labourers, beetel shop-owners and several others who sleep on pavements without even a blanket, we found that practically every second person from the lower strata has been approached by hundreds of doctors and touts. Most of these underprivileged pavement dwellers have given their kidneys, and we easily counted up to 13.

A large number of touts from Meerut, Delhi, Bareilly and Lucknow approach them and offer Rs 20,000-Rs 50,000 for their kidneys. Some of them have become touts themselves after donating their kidneys. The Moradabad Police had arrested two touts, Gayasudin and Gopal Nepali, involved in Dr Amit Kumar8217;s racket from the bus stand at Moradabad, and officials say that poverty and unemployment must be reasons Kumar targeted them.

One of the victims, Bhagwan Das 48, who gave his kidney to an unknown tout for just Rs 30,000 because he had no money, is a tailor from Bareilly. He came to Moradabad in search for work 16 years ago and has been here since, surviving on rickshaw-pulling. Before that he worked in Meerut.

In 1999, one Shahid asked him to give his kidney for Rs 50,000. 8220;I did not know its value and he said that I could survive on one kidney. I agreed since my blood group was A-positive and matched their requirement. He took me to a place near the Meerut bus terminal and after that I don8217;t remember what happened to me. They dropped me back, gave me Rs 30,000 and asked me to manage with it,8221; Das said.

A few months later, the pain surfaced. Now Das has become used to living with the pain. 8220;One Deepak and Shahid are regulars here who approach people for blood and kidneys. They are touts, not doctors,8221; he added. On the other hand there are those who claim that Das is a tout himself.

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Another pavement dweller, Iqbal Ahmad, 30, said, 8220;Last year in September, two people asked for my kidney for Rs 80,000. I refused. Then they went to somebody else. This is a daily routine8221;. Iqbal, a native of Allahabad who has studied up to Class VIII, knows what a kidney is worth. He stays with his mother and sleeps at a bus-stand opposite the railway station.

A rickshaw-puller, Gyanender, adds, 8220;For us, only money matters. I have not decided about such a thing, but a lot of people get good money by donating kidneys and blood.8221; Surprisingly, one of them, Kiran Pal 28, asked, 8220;How many kidneys do you want and when? What would you pay for it?8221;

Much like these men there are hundreds from Bihar, Bareilly, Nagpur, Muzzafarnagar, Saharanpur, Meerut and Rampur who have no dependents. And so the choice is never hard: giving a kidney is any day better than dying of starvation.