Bidi factory workers of Barisal Thursday formed a human chain and staged a rally in the city protesting the proposed taxes on handmade tobacco products and discriminations between bidi and cigarette.
Barisal Karikar Bidi Sramik Union called the human chain at Nathullabad central bus terminal area disrupting road communication for half an hour by blocking roads. The agitated workers then marched to the district administration office complex and handed over a memorandum to press home their three-point demands.
The demands include withdrawal of taxes, ending discrimination by fixing lowest price of 10-stick cigarette pack to at least Tk50 and forming wage board for bidi workers fixing the lowest salary at Tk52 for making 1,000 sticks of bidi.
While addressing the rally, leaders of the union alleged the National Board of Revenue of giving highest facilities to the multinational cigarette companies.
Proposed extra taxes on bidi would hamper the sector including women employment in the industries, they claimed.
“If the bidi factories are shut down due to proposed extra taxes on tobacco goods, thousands of workers will become jobless,” said Bijoy Krishna Dey, managing director of Karikar Bidi Factory, Barisal, one of the largest bidi factories in Bangladesh.
Elsewhere in Kushtia, around 1,000 bidi workers staged demonstration demanding cancellation of the additional duty imposed on bidi industries on Wednesday.
Bangladesh Bidi Sramik Federation, under the banner of ‘Bidi Sramik Sangram’ organised a sit-in programme at the district’s municipality circle, where speakers termed the government’s decision to impose additional duty a “conspiracy” to terminate the bidi industry.
Later, the protestors brought out a procession and laid siege to deputy commissioner’s office, and submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner Seyed Belal Hossain seeking measures in this regard.
