The Civil Collective for Malaiyaha Reconstruction has accused the Government of proceeding with plans to lease State-owned estate lands to the private sector without consulting the people living on those estates, claiming that the initial stages of the process have already been carried out.
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (4), Collective Convenor Selvaraja Rajasegar said that estate lands comprise both State-owned and privately owned properties, with some State-owned lands currently leased to private companies while ownership remains with the Government.
He claimed that residents were being kept uninformed of the process until after prospective buyers had been selected, leaving them with little opportunity to raise concerns about the future of their homes and livelihoods.
"By now, some of the lands belonging to the estates are being privatised, and it is only after the selection process of the prospective buyers has taken place that the people living in those estates get to know about it. When an estate is privatised and given on lease or fully privatised, it is not only the land that is being leased, but also the people who live there, their livelihoods, including their kovils," he said.
Rajasegar warned that privatisation could also restrict residents' everyday activities, including planting trees and digging trenches, depending on the conditions imposed on the leased properties.
He further said that while the Government had pledged to provide houses to the Malaiyaha community, the proposed changes to estate ownership and management could further restrict the freedom of those living there.
However, he stressed that the Collective was not opposed to privatisation in principle, but insisted that residents must be consulted before decisions affecting their homes and livelihoods were made.
As an alternative, he proposed that people living on estate lands be provided with separate plots of land with full ownership rights.
The current Government's manifesto has pledged to secure land rights for the Malaiyaha community. However, on 27 October, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a series of policy measures to lease underutilised State-owned plantation lands and properties to the private sector on a long-term basis.