'Save children from bidi factories'

He also urged parents to send their children to schools instead of Bidi factories, and NGOs to build a social movement against engaging children in hazardous jobs.

He assured of all possible assistance in this regard.

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"Allowing children to work in Bidi factory virtually means leading them to death", he said.

Bassu was speaking at a roundtable on "Sending Bidi Factory Children to School", held at Daulatpur, an area in the country known for tobacco cultivation and Bidi factories.

It was organised recently by BTUK (Bangladesh Trade Union Kendro), an organisation working to protect labour rights in Bangladesh.

Bassu visited the area to see the progress made by different NGOs in taking children out of Bidi factories and sending them to school.

With BTUK Assistant Programme Co-ordinator Ahsanul Haq Nabab in the chair, the roundtable was also addressed by, among others, local Union Parishad Chairman AT Siddique, Akiz Bidi Factory Manager Khorshed Alam, ILO Social Monitor Jaganmoy Projesh Biswas and representatives of suppliers of child workers to Bidi factories.

After the roundtable, the ILO officials visited Mansur Bidi factory and Akiz Bidi Factory in the area.

Mansur Bidi Factory, one of the biggest factories, on March 10 last year signed an agreement with ILO that it would not employ child labourer in the factory any more.

According to survey made earlier by some local NGOs, at least 5000 children had worked in eight big factories in the district. After ILO initiative, SETU, a local NGO, took away 870 children from different factories and sent them to school.