Kamathipura

Kamathipura (also spelled Kamthipura) 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 (workers) 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 experienced gentrification, and as of 2017, Kamathipura had less than 2,000 sex workers. Real estate expansion has pushed the brothels into only two of the 14 lanes which they originally occupied. In 1992, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recorded there were 45,000 sex workers, which decreased to 1,600 in 2009 and 500 in 2018. Many sex workers have migrated to other areas in Maharashtra, in part due to real estate developers taking over increasingly valuable land. In 2018, the Maharashtra government sought tenders to demolish and redevelop the area.

==History== thumb|left|160px|Former seven islands of Mumbai, before the 17th century