Mangaluru : The All India Beedi Industry Federation has appealed to the Union government to amend the notification on pictorial warning for the beedi industry to safeguard the interest of lakhs of workers who have limited alternative employment opportunities.

The industry has to abide by the October 15, 2014 notification necessitating printing of pictorial warnings on beedi packets covering 85 per cent of each side of the packet from April 1 onwards, federation president R.P. Patel said.

However, it is practically impossible to print a warning in such a large area due to the curved shape of beedi packets and the production has been stopped, Mr. Patel said.

He said, “Being a law abiding industry, there is no option but to stop production. Being a traditional industry, it cannot be closed down overnight. The government has been indifferent to the plight of the beedi industry despite repeated representations from various stakeholders. All the workers, mainly women in rural areas, have been rendered jobless overnight.”

Recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate Legislation that the rules have to be amended and that proposed a warning size of 50 per cent on one side of the Beedi packet are yet to be implemented by the government.

He said beedis manufactured in India are unique to the country. Beedi industry, Mr. Patel said, is the third largest employer after agriculture and construction by employing 80 lakh rollers, mostly women at their homes, another 5 lakh packers, who do packing manually, 20 lakh adivasis who pluck tendu leaves, 30 lakh farmers and thus supports more than 2 crore people directly and indirectly.

Mr. Patel said the industry has always implemented labour laws, minimum wages act, provident fund act, and many more. It has fully implemented The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production Supply and Distribution) Act, since 2003, he added.