The Government has instructed plantation companies to treat estate workers fairly and has specifically warned them not to increase employees' workloads in return for the recent wage increase, Deputy Plantation and Community Infrastructure Minister Sundaralingam Pradeep said.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, he said the Government had already informed estate companies of the standards expected in the treatment of workers. "As an example, we have specifically instructed them not to extract additional work from employees in exchange for the wage increase that was granted. In general, we have informed plantation companies to treat their workers properly," he said.

He added that if any isolated incidents of mistreatment occur, the affected workers or their families are welcome to inform the Ministry so that the matter could be looked into. "If there are individual incidents involving workers or their families, they can bring those matters to our attention," he said.

His comments come against the backdrop of the Government's rejection of the findings of the Amnesty International's recent report, 'Abandoned by the State, Trapped in Private Estates: Rights Abuses against Sri Lanka's Malaiyaha Tamil Tea Workers', which alleged labour rights and human rights violations affecting estate workers.

Responding to a question raised by Opposition Parliamentarian Nizam Kariapper in Parliament earlier, Plantation and Community Infrastructure Minister Samantha Vidyarathna said that the Government did not accept the report's findings and would present its response after completing discussions between the Plantation and Labour Ministries. He also said that international competition in the plantation sector should be taken into account when assessing such allegations, noting that issues relating to commercial plantation crops have implications for both workers' livelihoods and the national economy.