TB stalks bidi-binders

Statesman News Service

MALDA, June 23: Highlighting the plight of bidi-binders in Malda at a recently held convention here, CPI-backed trade union leaders said nearly 66,000 child bidi-binders have been suffering from tuberculosis and malnutrition problems. The CPI-backed trade union leaders said the affected are unable to seek medical treatment due to poverty. They demanded that three medical centres be set up for them in Malda. The leaders complained that the Welfare Centre at Kaliachak was inadequate for the treatment of all bidi-binders. Senior CPI leader and MP Mr Gurudas Dasgupta attended the convention. The AITUC leader, Mr Malay Das, said: “Though the minimum wages fixed in the recent tripartite contract was Rs 40.80 against every 1,000 bidi-binding, bidi-binders were still being paid a niggardly amount. The monitoring committee has failed to solve the wage problem. The workers do not protest because they fear losing their jobs.” Mr Dasgupta said: “A rapport with ministers cannot shield those who deprive workers of their wages.” Though Mr Dasgupta did not name anybody, his speech was targeted at Md Mustak Hossain, proprietor of Pataka Bidi, who owns the biggest bidi-making units in Malda and Murshidabad and is on good terms with the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Mr Dasgupta said: “ Almost everywhere in the country, bidi workers are exploited either by factory owners or contractors. Even the Union minister, Mr Praful Patel, is in favour of protecting bidi factory owners’ interests.” Other speakers at the forum said that of the two-lakh bidi workers in the district, only half have been brought under the purview of the Provident Fund scheme. But in many cases, bidi-factory owners duped workers by illegally withdrawing Provident Fund money for their vested interests. Leaders speaking at the forum has demanded the inclusion of all bidi-workers under the PF scheme along with the setting up of a PF office in the district. Mr Dasgupta warned entrepreneurs willing to invest in the state. He said: “We are not against capitalists but we resist jobless growth. Workers’ interest should be upheld at any cost.”