brand logo

Lands of Indian-origin plantation Tamils relocated to Tamil Nadu in jeopardy 

10 Nov 2022

  •  Tamil Nadu Forest Dept. to take back lands, dwellers face relocation within TN 
  •  CWC’s Thondaman raises issue with Indian HC Bagley, TN Chief Minister Stalin, Ali Sabry
 BY Mirudhula Thambiah The plantation sector Tamils of Indian origin who were sent back to India from Sri Lanka and settled in the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation (TANTEA) are facing the risk of being relocated within Tamil Nadu (TN), as their lands are going to be repossessed by the Forest Department of Tamil Nadu.  Speaking to The Morning, Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) President Senthil Thondaman said that it is a tragedy being faced by the plantation Tamils taken back from Sri Lanka to India in 1965 with regard to their land and settlement; adding that this matter had therefore been raised during a meeting held at the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka with the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Bagley on Tuesday (8).  “Last month, the Tamil Nadu Government passed an order saying that more than 2,500 hectares of the land where the TANTEA is situated and the plantation Tamils are living was taken through a lease from the forest land and that it is going to be handed back to the Forest Department. These people will have to now vacate the tea plantation and they therefore have no place to go except Sri Lanka. They will lose their jobs, houses and be again relocated to another place,” he added.  Thondaman noted: “We have raised our concerns to Bagley because the CWC has a moral obligation to these people, not only because they were members of the CWC, but because we were involved in looking after their resettlement back to India. Already, they were displaced from India to Sri Lanka in 1823 and sent back to India from Sri Lanka in 1965, and once again if they are going to be displaced, that is going to be a tragedy for the plantation community.” He noted that the CWC had raised this matter with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (CM) M.K. Stalin, Bagley and Minister of Foreign Affairs President’s Counsel M.U.M Ali Sabry.  “Both Governments are morally responsible for this settlement. They said that they will look into this as a priority,” he added.  He also noted that the Indian housing project of 10,000 houses in the plantations which is to be started was also discussed along with special vocational training programmes to be launched at the Thondaman Vocational Training Centre by Indian lecturers which will in turn uplift the livelihoods of plantation youths. Bagley along with the First Secretary – Political Banu Prakash agreed to attend to these requests on a priority basis.  


More News..