[Survivor Series] Moneylenders take advantage of us knowing the police won't help

My name is Pitta Rajani and I am 28 years old. I live with my family in Kandriga village in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada district. We face frequent financial struggles, and I was doing sex work to help support my family. My husband’s job as a daily wage worker was also not also bringing in enough money. Once the pandemic started, things went from bad to worse and we both lost our earnings.

During the lockdown, I had no work and I was forced to take a loan to make ends meet. I approached a private money lender named Soubhagya* and took a loan of Rs 20,000 from her. She realised how desperate our situation was and demanded an interest of Rs 10 per Rs 100. We had no choice so we agreed.

I had to pay an interest of Rs. 2,000 every month over and above my monthly repayments.

The moneylender has realised that we are desperate and is forcing us to pay double of the initial amount. Soubhagya is insisting that we pay Rs 4,000 instead of the initially agreed-upon amount of Rs 2,000. She has threatened my family and I fear for our safety.

She turns up outside my home and starts abusing us in front of the neighbours. Now, she is threatening to call the police and tell them that I am still working as a sex worker.

I want to destigmatise the negative impression that exists around sex workers. People like the moneylender and the police always take advantage of our plight and demand extremely high interest rates and bribes. We are also in constant fear of our safety.

It’s also impossible to find other work because jobs are scarce and because of the discrimination that exists against hiring people who are sex workers or former sex workers. Our situation is very bad and no one seems to care.