MANGALORE: Beedi workers from Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts will hold a protest meeting on Thursday, opposing the Union Government's decision to impose Value Added Tax (VAT) on beedis, and other policies that can affect the industry adversely.

The protest will be held at Nehru Maidan under the banner of `Beedi Udhime Mathu Karmikara Hitharakshna Samithi' .

The Union Government has decided to impose VAT on beedis from April 1, 2007, by considering it a manufactured product.

Since beedis are rolled by hand, we oppose the imposition of this tax, Vishwanath Shetty, president of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The Government had also issued an order stating that all the manufacturers need to print a statutory warning on the beedi packets as per the provisions of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act. Such a label would affect the sales, which would in turn affect several workers who are dependent on the industry, he said.

Beedi industry owners are planning to go on an indefinite bundh from November 20 to protest against the Government's policies. Workers were not supporting this bundh as we want the Government to reconsider its policies, Mr. Shetty said. Bundh was not the solution for the problem and the Government must not support this move of the owners, he added.

Need for uniform wages for the workers, demand for identity cards and scholarships to beedi worker's children, these issues would also be discussed at the protest meeting, he said.

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