Poonam panel visits Sircilla

Committee studies their living conditions in Sircilla

Sircilla (Karimnagar): The State government-appointed committee toured extensively in Sircilla town on Tuesday and interacted with beedi workers. Committee headed by Poonam Malakondaiah and its members Ashok, Sunil Sharma, Soumya Mishra and Swathi Lakra came here on the instructions of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

The Telangana government appointed the committee to study the socio-economic and health conditions of beedi workers prior to the implementation of monthly pension scheme of Rs 1000 under the Aasara scheme. District Collector Neetu Kumari Prasad also participated in the tour along with committee members.

Officials asked the beedi workers at Nehru Nagar as to how much they will be earning per month by rolling beedies. They also sought their opinions and suggestions on beedi rolling profession. Some of the beedi workers brought to the notice of officials that they were denied Provident Fund (PF) accounts even though they were rolling beedies for the past few years. Beedi workers told the committee members that officials were telling them that pensions will be sanctioned only if they have PF accounts. The committee members informed beedi workers to contact officials of the Labour Department and open PF accounts.

A beedi worker, Kalpana, informed the committee members that she was facing health problems as she has been rolling beedies for the past 15 years. Kalpana expressed anguish that she had to visit hospitals for medical treatment on several occasions. She brought to the notice of officials that beedi workers are visiting the Government hospital as local ESI hospital lacks proper medical facilities. She alleged that the staff at the Government hospital was ignoring beedi workers.

Another beedi worker made a request to the committee members to extend ‘Kalyana Lakshmi’ scheme to girl children of beedi workers as the income earned from rolling beedies is only sufficient to meet their monthly expenditure and hospital expenses. A beedi worker, Vijaya, was in tears while she was explaining to the committee members as to how she lost her daughter even after spending Rs 1 lakh towards medical expenses.

“Husbands of women beedi workers were addicted to liquor and not taking care of families as they were unable to repay debts,” she added. She requested the committee members to provide better jobs to husbands of beedi workers. Poonam Malakondaiah consoled Vijaya and assured her that the government would take appropriate measures to resolve their problems.

Later, speaking to the media, Poonam Malakondaiah said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao gave instructions to the committee to study the problems being faced by beedi workers in the state. “Committee members came to Sircilla town as part of state tour,” she added.

She stated that beedi workers have told the committee members to impress upon the government for sanction of pensions, houses, free medical services and work for 25 days in a month. “The Committee will submit a report to the government after completion of studying the problems of beedi workers,” she said.