Two years after the transgender community in Bengaluru demanded housing facilities, the city’s civic body – the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is planning to open shelter homes for members of the community.
According to Nagendra Naik, the Assistant Commissioner of BBMP’s Welfare Department, the first shelter home would be opened in Upparpet, near the KSRTC bus stand in Majestic.
“The shelter home can house 50 to 75 persons. We are planning to open one shelter home in Upparpet as a pilot project and gauge the response of members of the community. Based on the response, we will open more,” Nagendra Naik said.
The first shelter home is expected to open by the end of June. Assistant Commissioner Nagendra says that the officials conceived the idea six months ago and have held talks with local police regarding the shelter homes.
“Many elderly persons who belong to the transgender community have trouble finding housing because of the discrimination they face. We will also be providing them vocational training like candle-making, tailoring at these shelter homes,” he added.
However, members of the transgender community in the city say that they were not taken into confidence by the BBMP before making the final decision. Speaking to TNM, Uma, a transgender person working for the NGO Jeeva, says that the BBMP and police have decided to use these shelter homes to prevent members of the trans community from indulging in sex work.
“The police have an agreement with BBMP that any transgender person who is indulging in sex work would be dropped off at the shelter home. Many people from our community do sex work voluntarily. We will laud the police if they rescue people who are forced into it. But if someone is doing sex work voluntarily, it’s their choice. Besides, the shelter homes will be like prisons. We will not be allowed to go out. They did not consult us before making the final decision,” Uma added.
Uma states that the demands put forth by the transgender community to the BBMP were completely different and aimed at bringing them into the mainstream. Their demands include assistance with higher education, separate shelter homes for elderly persons of the community and also pension facilities.
“We demanded that at least three people hired in each government department be transgender persons. We wanted monetary assistance for those members of the community, who wanted to set up small shops. Vocational training definitely helps but not giving the community members an opportunity to choose what they want to do is wrong,” Uma added.