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Sex workers stage protest

Last Updated 01 December 2010, 18:10 IST

They accused KSAPS of ignoring and neglecting them and waved black flags and red umbrellas, the international symbol for sex workers.

Minister absent

Already an hour late, the news of Health Minister B Sriramulu giving the event a miss did not go down too well with the crowd comprising students, NGOs and People Living with HIV (PLHIV).

However, the group got agitated after actress Pooja Gandhi, one of the chief guests, post her speech invited one of the community members on stage to make a speech.

The member said KSAPS never encouraged the work the PLHIVs were doing at ground level by making sure “positive” people went to ART or peer counselling.

The crowd shouted at the KSAPS officials for not doing anything for the community. Sensing there was no way to pacify the crowd, the health secretary, the health commissioner, the National Rural Health Mission director and the KSAPS project director left the scene.

KSAPS project director R R Jannu said the programme was targeted at the youth and hence there was no reason to invite sexual minorities and sex workers to the function.

He said the KSAPS had given contracts to NGOs to implement the intervention programmes and so they needed to address their problems.

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(Published 01 December 2010, 18:10 IST)

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