Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)

Mangaluru, Jul 23: Dakshina Kannada Beedi Workers' Association led by CITU on Thursday July 23 held a huge protest in front of the DC's office here alleging 'anti-beedi workers' and 'anti-poor' attitude on the part of the state and union governments.

A procession was taken from Town Hall to the DC's office where the protest was held.

Addressing the protest, CPI(M) Lokayya Shetty said, "Modi-led government has introduced online application for scholarships. But poor people do not understand anything about the internet. The government has to create awareness among the people and show the way, so that people can follow. But here all of a sudden they are asked to apply online, and do things about which they do not have any knowledge.

"Beedi industry owners have to contribute a certain amount to welfare fund and out of that some amount should be kept aside for healthcare and certain for scholarship of beedi workers' children. Modi said 'achche din' will come, but what achche din? Even if you keep trust in Modi, the fact is the governement is run by RSS. Never trust RSS. Under the RSS leadership people have never been happy. As long as the government is run by RSS, poor people will never get happiness. RSS is anti-poor," he alleged.

"There is a stratergy behind this online scholarship. To apply for scholarship online, you have to pay Rs 150, and poor people will not have any knowledge about this. Rs 150 is the expense, while what they get as scholarship is Rs 350. So people will not apply, and the unclaimed scholarship amount is diverted into share market by the government," he added.

"They talk about tobacco ban but what the World Health Organisation has said is that alternative arrangements should be made for people who work in the tobacco industry. But have they made any alternative arrangements? We are all waiting for 'achche din' - these are not achche din, these are dangerous days for the poor and the workers," he said.

"Siddaramaiah government in the state says there has been no increase in the prices of essential commodities, thus there is no need to increase the allowances of beedi workers. Both these BJP and Congress are two faces of the same coin. Both these parties are anti-poor and pro-corporates," Lokayya Shetty alleged.

CPI(M) leader Vasanth Achaar said, "Today Congress is ruling in the state. Due to government policies the prices of commodities have gone up. In accordance with the price hike, the beedi contractors need to pay dearness allowance (DA) of Rs 12.75 per thousand beedies from April. But the beedi contractors have managed to evade this, as state government has exemted them from paying this hiked amount. We condemn the attitude of the state government for supporting the beedi contractors and cheating poor beedi workers.

"Congress leaders about poor whenver they open their mouths. There are 8 legislative assembly seats and seven of them have Congress MLAs. They need to question the labour minister. Labour minister Parameshwar Naik says contractors do not have to pay the hiked DA amount to beedi workers. If the dearness allowance is evaded then it is a profit of Rs 200 crore to the owners. We need to think - if the minister is helping them to evade this, then how much money the labour minister would have got?" he questioned.

"Police said they have collected Rs 65,000 in one month by imposing fine on beedi and cigarette smokers. I want to ask, if police collect fine from people who smoke, they will stop smoking; and if people do not smoke, then who will buy these products? How will beedi workers earn their living? The dearness allowance should be hiked immediately and be paid to the beedi workers," he demanded.

B M Bhat, Balakrishna Shetty along with hundreds of beedi workers participated in the protest.