A toto operator and two of his friends have come to the aid of 70 sex workers in Nadia’s Santipur by providing them with free grocery and vegetables.

The good Samaritans — toto operator Sanjit Kastha, garment trader Debasish Pramanik, and homemaker Mohor Dey Biswas — are distributing basic grocery items and vegetables among the sex workers ever since the lockdown and social distancing to thwart Covid-19 have affected their source of income.

The trio have decided to distribute such items at least twice or thrice a week. According to sources, the three handed over packets of rice (2kg), potato (2kg), red lentils (250grams), salt (1kg), mustard oil (250ml), soyabean nuggets (200grams), toilet soap, potatoes and onions to them on the first day.

“This will not be enough. We will provide essential groceries to them every alternate day with the support of a few other friends,” said Kastha.

Pramanik, who made the maximum contribution to procure the necessities, said: “This is a small contribution on our behalf to recognise the awareness the sex workers have shown to stop the spread of the coronavirus. While educated and affluent people in the society showed callousness in responding to the protocol of social distancing required to combat the disease, these women have shown strong determination to avoid any possible transmission of the disease.”

Kastha, also a nature care activist, said they decided to help these women as social distancing has put them under financial stress.

“Our efforts may not be enough to meet their needs, but will help them get two square meals.”

Expressing their gratitude, a sex worker said: “We are thankful to them. We came to know about the coronavirus in the first week of March, following which we decided not to allow people until the disease was contained. We were offered big money, but we vowed not to be lured as social distancing was the only way.”

Biswas, who teaches children of the sex workers, said: “When Covid-19 claimed thousands of lives in China and Italy in march, I tried to make these women aware of the looming danger. I persuaded them to suspend their profession in the wake of the fast-spreading threat. They listened to my request.”