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LARKANA, Nov 8: The traders’ monopoly on tobacco leaves used in manufacturing Bidi and subsequent rise in price of Bidi leaves is rendering Bidi workers jobless in Larkana district.
The monopoly has led to the ever-rising rates of Bidi leaves which has forced small-scale contractors known as Bhanda owners to shut their business by laying off their workers.
In early 80s, the contractors purchased four-kilogramme packet of the Bidi leaves for Rs250, Bidi Mazdoor Ittehad (BMI) general secretary Manzoor Abro told this correspondent on Tuesday.
Now the same packet was being sold for Rs950 and the price hike had shrunk the business, casting negative impact on the workers, he lamented.
Only three traders had monopolized Bidi leave business in Karachi after government abolished the permit system thereby making it a free trade, said Larkana BMI former president Gada Hussain Shaikh.
The traders supplying Bidi leaves to Larkana district chose same path and increased the rates, he said.
Presently 3,000 workers were connected with Bidi making in Larkana district alone and there were 40 Bidi manufacturing units in Larkana city, each employing 10 to 40 workers, he said.
The small traders in the past used to provide Bidi leaves to the workers on the condition that the workers would sell prepared Bidis to them on fixed rates, said Mr Abro.
Now they had not only discontinued that practice but also monopolized the trade of Bidi leaves, the labour leader said.
The Bidi workers could not afford to purchase Bidi leaves and tobacco filled in it, he said and alleged that the traders were banking on the workers’ skill by exploiting their poverty.
The Bidi workers, finding no way to save their jobs, observed hunger strikes and protests demanding that the government should restore the permit system, Mr Abro said.
If the system was revived, hundreds of Bidi workers and their families would be saved from starvation, he concluded.
AUDIT: Internal audit committees will look into financial matters of school management committees of the district and point out discrepancies, if any, in handling the funds.
It was decided at a meeting held here on Thursday which was presided over by District Nazim Khursheed Ahmad Junejo and attended by DCO Dr Badar Ujjan, EDO, education, and others.
The meeting decided that the EDO, finance, would constitute the audit committees on sub-divisional level to verify the record of the SMCs.
It decided that funds would be released to the SMCs after reports of the committees and it would be ensured that the committees did not hinder the routine work of the SMCs.
Sources said the district Nazim, on the recommendation of the district council, had banned the SMCs funds which had affected ongoing schemes initiated in different schools in the district.
However, it was learnt that the secretary for education in his letter on Oct 16 had advised DCOs and district Nazims to remove the restriction on the SMCs funds to complete the schemes.
The meeting said two district monitoring bodies would also be formed to assess the over all function of the SMCs and assist the sub-divisional committees in their operation.
