Bidi workers demand alternative employment
BSS, Rangpur :
The bidi workers at post protest-procession human chain and rally programmes here Monday demanded substitute employments to earn livelihoods instead of working in bidi factories amid harmful environment.
Hundreds of bidi workers, under the banner of ‘Bikhhubdha Bidi Sramik’, brought the protest procession bearing placards and banners from Paira Chattar area, organised a human chain and later, a protest rally on the Press Club premises.
With Bidi workers’ leader Abdul Baten in the chair, bidi workers Morshedul Alam, Jahangir Alam, Esna Begum, Bulbuli Begum, Motaleb Hossain, Ansarul Haque, Rashedul Islam, Haider Ali, Sirajul Islam and Mozahedul Islam Bijoy addressed the protest rally.
They also forwarded their demands for arranging substitute employments in Rangpur and other bidi producing areas in the country to save them from harmful jobs at the bidi factories amid hazardous conditions.
Central committee member of Anti Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) Mahbubul Islam, Focal Person of Tobacco Control Coalition Shushanto Bhowmick, its Member Ahsan Habib Rabu, Executive Director of Self-help and Advancement Development Organisation (SHADO) Khondker Sarwar Jamil and Project Coordinator of Association for Community Development (ACD) Ehsanul Amin Emon also addressed the occasion expressing solidarity with the demands of the bidi workers.
The demands include setting up of substitute industries and factories by public-private initiatives in Rangpur region to provide jobs to the bidi workers on priority basis, providing temporary financial supports and vocational training to assist them leaving jobs in the bidi factories, priority in overseas employment for bidi workers and special government assistance and incentives for the bidi factory owners in setting up of substitute industries and factories.
In their speech, the bidi workers blamed owners of different tobacco companies for providing various assistances and lucrative incentives to the farmers for inspiring them in cultivating thousands of tonnes of tobacco every year in Rangpur region.
They also narrated how they lead a miserable life with their family members with the insufficient earnings from the bidi factories and suffer from various deadly diseases in the long run.
The bidi workers at post protest-procession human chain and rally programmes here Monday demanded substitute employments to earn livelihoods instead of working in bidi factories amid harmful environment.
Hundreds of bidi workers, under the banner of ‘Bikhhubdha Bidi Sramik’, brought the protest procession bearing placards and banners from Paira Chattar area, organised a human chain and later, a protest rally on the Press Club premises.
With Bidi workers’ leader Abdul Baten in the chair, bidi workers Morshedul Alam, Jahangir Alam, Esna Begum, Bulbuli Begum, Motaleb Hossain, Ansarul Haque, Rashedul Islam, Haider Ali, Sirajul Islam and Mozahedul Islam Bijoy addressed the protest rally.
They also forwarded their demands for arranging substitute employments in Rangpur and other bidi producing areas in the country to save them from harmful jobs at the bidi factories amid hazardous conditions.
Central committee member of Anti Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) Mahbubul Islam, Focal Person of Tobacco Control Coalition Shushanto Bhowmick, its Member Ahsan Habib Rabu, Executive Director of Self-help and Advancement Development Organisation (SHADO) Khondker Sarwar Jamil and Project Coordinator of Association for Community Development (ACD) Ehsanul Amin Emon also addressed the occasion expressing solidarity with the demands of the bidi workers.
The demands include setting up of substitute industries and factories by public-private initiatives in Rangpur region to provide jobs to the bidi workers on priority basis, providing temporary financial supports and vocational training to assist them leaving jobs in the bidi factories, priority in overseas employment for bidi workers and special government assistance and incentives for the bidi factory owners in setting up of substitute industries and factories.
In their speech, the bidi workers blamed owners of different tobacco companies for providing various assistances and lucrative incentives to the farmers for inspiring them in cultivating thousands of tonnes of tobacco every year in Rangpur region.
They also narrated how they lead a miserable life with their family members with the insufficient earnings from the bidi factories and suffer from various deadly diseases in the long run.
