TIRUNELVELI: The instances of respiratory diseases are high with the more than 60,000 people mostly women engaged in beedi rolling at Melapalayam, that became a part of the Tirunelveli Corporation in 1994.
This predominantly Muslim area has most of its men folks working as labourers in Gulf countries, while their illiterate spouses roll beedis to supplement the family income.
Katheeja Beevi, 30, who has been engaged in rolling beedis told Express that eight months ago, when she complained of wheezing she was diagnosed being allergic to tobacco.
Beevi has two girls and her husband earns Rs 2,000 per month, which she said was insufficient. So, the fifth standard dropout started rolling beedis from 9 am to 10 pm earning Rs 60 per day.
“How can I get an alternative job, when I am not educated well,” she asked, adding, “Only the government can provide alternative job to ensure that the women rolling beedi are free from diseases.”
“Due to tobacco, children in the area have a high rate of primary complex that can lead to TB,” said Dr Jawahar Rajkumar, a paediatrician who has been residing in this area for over 15 years. People of Melapalayam are 30 per cent more prone to falling sick, when compared to other areas, stated Paul Raj, assistant professor of medicine in Tirunelveli Medical College.
“Usually one or two per cent of the population is infected by TB, but in Melapalayam over 30 people are TB infected,” he added.
With no other form of exercise, women in the area were also susceptible to heart-related diseases, he noted. A team from the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusion Policy at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University has been conducting a study in the area on the health hazards in beedi industry.
Centre’s assistant director Dr R Pavananti Vembulu (also part of the team) stated that until 1980s, people in the area were engaged in weaving, but due to economic constraints many men folks, mostly Dalits who converted to Islam migrated to the Gulf as labourers, while women were forced to roll beedis. The government has given importance to the pictorial warning on the beedi packets, but has failed to look into the health hazards in rolling beedis, he alleged.
Besides a long term goal to provide an alternate job, there was immediate need to provide separate to roll beedis, thus preventing it from becoming a household industry, Pavananti said, adding that the industry must be declared a hazardous one and a welfare board has to be created.
