Lift ban on tobacco products: Beedi workers

Beedi workers of the district have demanded lifting of the ban on tobacco products, imposed as part of the lockdown, in view of the spread of coronavirus or Covid-19. They said, as major beedi brands have stopped operations, duplicate and sub-standard beedis are flooding the market.

Beedi workers, who roll tobacco into beedis, said the restriction on transportation and sales of tobacco products, has denied them their daily earnings and is also encouraging the sales of duplicate beedis, resulting in a huge loss to the state exchequer.

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K C Showkath Pasha, general secretary of Mysore Beedi Mazdoor Association, said, beedi rolling is done by workers, mostly women, from their respective house, so, there will be no violation of the lockdown guidelines.

“There is no need to travel and no crowding of people. Small firms are having a field day by making duplicate beedis. They are pushing sub-standard and duplicate beedis to shops. People have no choice and they are buying,” he said.

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Pasha said, “There are about 8 to 10 lakh families across Karnataka, who are directly or indirectly dependent on beedi manufacturing industries. A majority of them are in Mangaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Tumakuru, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Kolar, Ramnagar and Mandya.”

“Every worker earns Rs 150 to Rs 250 per day, by rolling beedi at home. If more than one person does the work in a family, their income doubles. Men is such families are mostly dependent on their wives, due to various socio-economic reasons. As beedi companies have stopped work, their families are facing hardships,” he said.

“There are two types of beedi manufacturers — major and small. Workers are organised, semi-organised and unorganised. Major beedi manufactures are Mangalore Ganesh Beedies, Telephone Beedi, 30 No Beedi and PVS Beedi. They employ lakhs of workers through contractors, following Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966, and pay wages as per Minimum Wages Act, with all statutory benefits like provident fund, bonus and paid leave. However, small manufacturers do not follow these rules,” Pasha said.

“Mangalore Ganesh Beedies and others stooped rolling of beedies since March 22. Upon enquiry, the manufacturers informed that they cannot provide work due to heavy piling up of stocks, due to the lockdown. In the interest of the workers, the government should allow sales of beedies,” he said.

M Jagannath Shenoy, managing director of Mangalore Ganesh Beedi Works, said, he understands that the workers are going without work and duplicate beedis are flooding the market, causing harm to smokers and also state exchequer.

“All beedi manufacturers have appealed to the Union government to lift the ban on tobacco products, citing the problems. However, we stick to the rules and we follow the guidelines till further orders,” he said.