Bidi workers to oppose statutory warning notification

Allahabad, May 6 (UNI) Bidi workers here will oppose the notification of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, directing beedi manufacturers to print warnings against the ill-effects of smoking, covering at least 50 per cent of the wrapper.

Talking to newspersons here today, chief general secretary of UP Beedi Mazdoor Federation and state president of Beedi Udyog Karamchari Union Iqbal Hussain said the government has decided to enforce its earlier July 5, 2006 notification from next June 1.

The notification has forced beedi manufacturers to quit the industry. This is a major threat to livelihood of lakh of workers in UP, he observed ''The unjustified action taken by the UP government was being taken under the pressure of foreign companies and cigarette manufacturers,'' he alleged.

Most of the beedi manufacturers have other means of livelihood like hotels, cold storage, dairies and petrol pumps, hence' they would remain unaffected, but eight million industry workers and four crore people of the country are bound to get affected by the decision, Mr Hussain pointed out.

Beedi workers would launch a nationwide agitation, besides staging a 'dharna satyagrah' in front of the District Magistrate's office. They would also handover a memorandum, addressing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, if the said notification was not withdrawn within 15 days. The memorandum will ask the Prime Minister to arrange for alternative jobs for beedi workers before implementing the notification, he added.

Mr Hussain further warned that ''the beedi workers might commit mass suicide if the notification gets implemented.'' The government earns an annual revenue of around Rs 25,000 crore through sales tax, income tax and excise duty from the bidi industry.

Besides workers, over three lakh adivasis who pluck 'tendu' leaves, is widely used in the manufacturing of beedi, would also be adversely affected.

Mr Hussain also criticised the government for its biased attitude and for not applying the same guidlines to wine and cigarette manufacturers.

UNI