Having lost their only source of income following the Maharashtra government's decision to close down dance bars in the state, bargirls on Tuesday knocked at the doors of National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission of Women.

"Theªban is going to deprive 75,000 bargirls and three lakh male bar workers of their only
source of livelihood," states the petition given to the commissions by the representatives of the Bhartiya Bargirls Union.

A peep into Mumbai's dance bars

Their faces covered, Paramjeet Kaur and Ranjeet Gill, both of whom hail from Punjab and work in Mumbai, told reporters after the meeting that they were being threatened byªNationalist Congress Partyªworkers.

"I cannot go out of my house. NCP workers threaten me with dire consequences if I go the dance bar again. There is no money at home," Paramjeet said.

The bargirls have been onªprotest at Azad Maidan in Mumbai against the government's decision.

They haveªtold the governmentªthat all bargirls in the state be rehabilitated before shutting down the bars.

"We have been talking to the state government. But no solution seems to be in sight. Moreover, the government is also saying that only those bargirls who hail from Maharashtra will be rehabilitated and that 75 per cent of the bargirls are
Bangladeshis," said Varsha Kale, honorary president of the union and head of the National Womanist Party.