Bhiwandi – Migrants In Need of Harm Reduction

July 15, 2010 10:42 am

by Eldred Tellis, from a 2007 Newsletter

When Kalyan Drop-In Centre was opened in April 2006, it was the first time that Sankalp had ventured beyond the Mumbai ‘border’ and as such the staff were aware that they would be confronted with different challenges and patterns of behaviour among drug users as they worked in a new area. Initially our Outreach workers found hectic activity on the central railway route between Thane and Ambernath and even though the clients were from regular homes on this stretch, they would be found in new areas according to the quality and availability of the drug. Therefore Outreach was always a tough task with our Outreach workers facing difficulties following up on the regular NSEP (Needle Syringe Exchange Programme) clients.

Since the clients often changed their hang-outs for the reasons mentioned above, Bhiwandi was discovered as a hotspot for heroin use. It is an area where migrants from all over the state especially from Malegaon, come for work on the textile looms which provide the main source of employment. In a town with a population of about 20 lakhs, there are more than 500 looms, each with a capacity of 12 to 20 machines of varying sizes. Bhiwandi is also a place where there are godowns for many industries and it goes without saying that there are quite a few similar ‘godowns’ for heroin as well which accounts for the fact that the price of the drug is half of that in Mumbai. Most people in Bhiwandi are a law unto themselves and that makes for a potentially difficult area to work in. Initially, Sankalp started only its NSEP at Bhiwandi, but when the with funding from the British Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) was coming to an end, it became important to offer the clients Opioid Substitution Therapy and a chance to detoxify before withdrawing all services. It was not easy to do this in an area with cheap heroin; we found few takers for OST and many clients continued to ask for clean needles and syringes. This is a classic instance of a donor’s agenda not necessarily meeting the needs of the client. Sankalp was forced to continue needle exchange as a service while motivating its clients to the OST.

With Government help not forthcoming for this centre, Sankalp has had to make a difficult choice — keep Kalyan going, and shut down this much-needed outpost and a service that has in the past not been offered by other NGO.