Seven year-old Abdul is learning how to make bidi. He said his parents sent him to the bidi factory.

There are thousands like Abdul, making bidi in shanties, inhaling polluted air which cause fatal diseases.

Parents here like to have more children because they supplement family income by working in bidi factories.

At least 20,000 children below 12 are working in 49 bidi factories in Haragach Bandar, according to an ILO-sponsored survey.

Haragach Bandar, 8 miles from from Rangpur town, is famous for tobacco business and bidi factories.

Over one lakh people including children are engaged in bidi factories and tobacco business in the Bandar area.

Every day, over five crore bidi sticks are manufactured and dispatched to different districts by trucks and other transports. Government earns over Tk 50 crore every year by selling bandarole of bidi and cigarettes, sources in the industry said.

A customs official said 40 of the bidi factories here are tax payers.

A child worker ears around Tk 20 and an adult Tk 40 to 60 a day.

The more the number of children a family has, the more is the income.

This encourages males to have more than one wife, a social worker said.

Haragach Bandar comprises parts of Haragach, Sarai and Mornia unions under Kaunia and Gangachara upazilas. The area is on the southern bank of Teesta river and its tributary Manosh.

In past few decades, erosion by the rivers devoured thousands of homesteads and vast areas of cultivable lands, making the landless and homeless dependent on the tobacco industry.

Most of them live in and around Haragach Badnar. At least three lakh people huddle in clusters of shanties.

The thick population has created great health hazards, said Anwarul Islam, chairman of Haragach Pourosava.

Thousands of children growing in the area turn to child labourers and none of them dreams of going to school, said Majibar, a labour leader.

A large number of people of all ages became easy prey to various chronic diseases like asthma, TB, jaundice, bronchitis, kidney infection and skin and eye disease due to tobacco dust floating on air.

They can hardly afford good treatment and die, said Abu Omar, a physician.

As per law, the factory owner must employ a doctor for regular checkup of the workers. But it is never done.

Asked about this, worker Junab Ali simply laughed away. "Who will enforce this law?" he asked.

There is a ray of hope in the darkness.

In recent days, some non-government organisations have launched a motivation drive on terrible affects of tobacco on health. They are holding group meetings and making house to house contact.

They have offered vocational training to teenagers and soft loan to families to discourage child labour in bidi factories. They are also provided health care services to many families.