When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh handed over 10,000 houses in Kumbhari village, 25 km away from Solapur, to beedi workers, they were overjoyed. But the mood was not to last long. Today, they end up spending half their salaries travelling to beedi factories in the city.

The Comrade Godavari Parulekar Mahila Bidi Kamgar Sahakari Griha Nirman Sanstha, the biggest cooperative housing project for workers in Asia consisting 10,000 houses, was constructed with the joint funds of the state and the Central governments to provide cheap homes for beedi workers.

Soon after shifting to their new houses, the workers realised that this was not exactly what they had waited for all these years. With the lack of roads, a drainage system and education facilities making life tough, many of them have returned to their old houses in the city slums. Even if they could tackle the lack of amenities, the Rs 14 they had to spent for daily transportation was burning their pockets.

“I was happy when we shifted out from our slum. But now I want to go back as we have to spend half of the income on transportation. We will change our mind if the factory opens a branch here,” said Rajyabi Shaikh, who owns a house in the scheme.

However, the factory owners are in no mood to open new branches at Kumbhari village, citing issues like octroi and toll tax imposed by the Solapur Municipal Corporation. Talking to The Indian Express, District Beedi Factory Association president Govind Prasad Tiwadi said there were 44 factories employing 66,000 beedi workers. “If we start branches at Kumbhari, we will have to pay double the octroi — first on the raw material and later on finished goods. We also won’t be able to afford the additional toll tax on vehicles,” he said.

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