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Scorned, banished, left to die
Man Singh, an HIV-positive truck driver in Uttar Pradesh, was forced to live outside his village with his wife and baby daughter.
Many years ago it was predicted that the HIV/AIDS virus would wipe out families and sink them in insurmountable debt. These horrors are happening to families in villages around the Mathura refinery.
In a survey, just from one village, six HIV positive cases have surfaced. One of them died last month.
Uttar Pradesh is termed a "low prevalence state" in HIV/AIDS jargon. However, its high population density, a large number of migrant workers and low awareness levels about the disease does not match its low prevalence status. National AIDS Control Organisation director Meenakshi Datta Ghosh agreed that the focus of most HIV/AIDS programmes have been on high prevalence states like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. "This is going to change. We are going to concentrate on so-called low prevalence states too," said Ghosh.
With the refinery and associated industries operating in the area, over 2,000 trucks come to the area every day and many villagers work as truck drivers. It is also a place where many sex workers operate — their clients, the large number of drivers, cleaners, helpers and migrant labourers. All of them are dangerously exposed to the HIV/AIDS virus.
Truck driver Man Singh, who is HIV-positive, was forced to live outside his village with his wife and baby daughter ever since his infection became public knowledge. He has been jobless for three years and his family is on the verge of starvation. "No one is willing to lend money to a dying man," said Man Singh.
They spent over Rs 60,000 on his treatment before bringing him to Ashraya Holistic Care Centre in Rajokri, Delhi; a hospice meant for HIV/AIDS patients.
In the house of Brajpal, 35, who died in the first week of January, there is despair. His family sold what little land they had to pay creditors and still owe Rs 45,000. "There is no work for me, no land to till and no earning member. We will probably have to sell this house, but where will we go then?" asked his wife Devi, 23, who has to look after Braj Pal's parents along with her two-year-old son.
Beeri, 36, is not a truck driver but he too is HIV positive. His brother, Vijay Pal was a truck driver who died two years ago. From the symptoms described, Vijay Pal too seems to have died of AIDS. According to village customs Beeri took his wife and now is HIV positive too.
In the adjoining villages of Bhainsa, and Thanateja two people have died recently. "Most of these deaths are attributed to dysentery or TB. But now people here are beginning to recognise the pattern and know that it could be because of AIDS," said Rajesh Singh of the NGO Shakti Vahini. He is conducting a survey on HIV infection and awareness in the area.
Field workers say that when a proper survey is done in UP, the figures could be astounding. "UP is sitting on a bomb. When the HIV explosion happens we will have hundreds of cases pouring into hospitals, much more than we could ever have bargained for," they said.
