Beedi workers to lay siege to DC office on Thursday

Mangalore, July 23: Beedi workers affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress will lay siege to the Office of Deputy Commissioner in the city on Thursday, July 26, demanding the fulfillment of their four-point demand.

Announcing this at a press meet here on Monday, HV Ananatha Subba Rao, General Secretary, Karnataka State Committee of AITUC, said that the government should immediately address the problems faced by the beedi workers of twin districts of coastal Karnataka.

“There are around five lakh beedi works in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District who are facing various problems due to the anti-poor policies of the government”, he said.

Explaining the problems of beedi workers, he said that due to the delay in release of scholarship amount to these children for past three years, and the move to shift onus of distributing scholarship from office of commissioner for beedi workers welfare to department of education, a large number of children are deprived of scholarship money.

“The number of beneficiaries eligible for scholarship from the academic years 2009-10 and 2010-11 has been reduced. Now a days nearly 75% of children of beedi workers are not receiving the scholarship”, he said. He demanded that the government should increase the number of beneficiaries for the academic years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12.

He lamented that schools are receiving belated instructions from the commissioner's office directing students to apply for scholarships.

Demanding the government to focus on empowering office of commissioner for beedi workers welfare, Mr Rao said that such an office must be established in Mangalore too.

He also said that the new move to deny scholarship to children below 14-years citing free and compulsory education guaranteed under Right to Education Act cannot be acceptable. “Parents have to spend large amount of money of their children's education even if it was free education”, he said.

P Sanjeeva, President, South Kanara Beedi Workers Federation (SKBWF) and T Shekhar, Treasurer, SKBWF were present among others in the press meet.