Kamathipura is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, India known for prostitution. It was first settled after 1795 with the construction of causeways that connected the erstwhile seven islands of Mumbai. Initially known as Lal Bazaar, it got its name from the Kamathis of other areas of the country, who were labourers on sexual sites. Due to tough police crackdowns…Kamathipura is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, India known for prostitution. It was first settled after 1795 with the construction of causeways that connected the erstwhile seven islands of Mumbai. Initially known as Lal Bazaar, it got its name from the Kamathis of other areas of the country, who were labourers on sexual sites. Due to tough police crackdowns, in the late 1990s with the rise of AIDS and government's redevelopment policy that helped sex workers to move out of the profession and subsequently out of Kamathipura, the number of sex workers in the area has dwindled. Since then, Kamathipura has experience gentrification, and as of 2017 Kamathipura had less than 2000 sex workers. Real estate expansion has pushed the brothels into only two of the 14 lanes across which they were once spread. As of 2022, around 1700 sex workers lived in Kmathipura. In 1992, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation recorded there were 45,000 sex workers here which was reduced to 1,600 in 2009 and 500 in 2018. Many sex workers have migrated to other areas in Maharashtra with real estate developers taking over the high-priced real estate. In 2018 the Maharashtra government sought tenders to demolish and redevelop the area.
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