Shekhar Chattopadhyay, general secretary of SB Devi Charity Home, with some of the children who will be provided with night shelter in the Sonagachhi area. Picture by Amit Datta

For 10-year-old Payel, life is a nightmare after dark.

Payel, daughter of a sex worker of Durgacharan Mitra Street, in the Sonagachhi area, often has to spend the night on the street as her mother stays busy with her “work” in their single-room home. For children of sex workers in the area, night shelter is the biggest problem.

However, things seem to be looking up for them. A voluntary organisation has come to their rescue and will set up a night shelter.

“Most of our children have to wander aimlessly in the evening and spend the nights outside,” said Baby Das, Payel’s mother. “They are often not willing to do so but we are compelled to keep them outside,” she explains.

“I have to spend the night outside as people come in,” said six-year-old Priyanka Debnath. She is forced to take refuge in the room of an ‘aunt’ — the woman who does odd jobs for a group of sex workers.

“I don’t want my child to join the profession and so I ensure that she does not become aware of what I am up to,” says Priyanka’s mother, who refused to identify herself.

“The shelter will allow the children to spend their nights in peace and comfort, and in each other’s company,” said Shekhar Chattopadhyay, general secretary of SB Devi Charity Home, the organisation that has taken up the project, dubbed Konika.

The project will be formally launched on Saturday and is likely to be completed by the end of this year, Chattopadhyay said.

The organisation has rented a building adjacent to the charity hospital it runs in Gulu Ostagar Lane. Initially, around 30 children will be provided shelter.

A number of sex workers had approached SB Devi Charity Home seeking a solution to this long-standing problem. The children will be taught at the night shelter in the evening, given dinner and after spending the night together, will return home the next morning.

“We have held discussions with some schools in the locality, who have agreed to admit these children and impart free education,” Chattopadhyay said. “This will also provide an opportunity for these children to grow up in a healthy atmosphere,” he added.

Although nurses will be there to look after the children, a couple of sex workers will stay with them by rotation. “We have asked the sex workers to take a day off and spend time with their children. This will provide emotional support to the children,” one of the organisation’s officebearers said. Some of these children are already being taught at the charity home’s free clinic.