Now, beedi industry faces jobcuts in Solapur

Solapur: Strict implementation of the ban on smoking have left thousands of people working in the beedi (local cigarette) industry job-less in Maharashtra.

The economic downturn has very little to do in it.

Rahimatbi has been a part of Solapur's beedi industry for 40 years but now she has lost her job.

She wonders how will she feed her four children and she's not the only one. Her employers at the local Beedi factory have sacked many like her citing losses incurred due to the anti-smoking law.

Beedi factory worker Daultabi Nadaf says, “This is the question of our livelihood. Making beedi helps us in running our house. I have four girls and my husband drinks.”

The beedi industry in the region employs 70,000 women many of whom have lost their jobs after beedi factory owners cut jobs by about 40 per cent.

Another beedi factory worker Jaidevi Vasu says, “My husband lost his job. Now even I have got the notice. I don’t have any other option but to commit suicide.”

Workers have now decided to protest against the job cuts. They claim that the factory owners are just harassing women workers under the guise of the anti-smoking law.

MLA, Communist Party Narsayya Adam says, "We will protest against this injustice and will not let Sushil Kumar Shinde set foot here."

Meanwhile, the factory owners justify the downsizing. They say there is no other way as demand has fallen by 15 per cent since the smoking ban came up.

Beedi Factory owner Govind Prasad Tiwadi says, “The law has led to a decrease in demand. We have no other option but to cut jobs.

However, it is not just the smoking ban, some of its set back is the ripple effect of the global economic slowdown forcing beedi factories to trim flab to remain competitive.

(With inputs from Santosh Moreand Siddharth Godam)

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