• Seek Prez intervention and common action front  

The Malaiyaha Tamil community has alleged step-motherly treatment in post-cyclone Ditwah disaster relief and reconstruction and has hence called for the President’s intervention and a common action front.

According to the Disaster Management Centre data, 99 per cent of the shelters housing families displaced all over the country are located in the five Districts of the Hill Country. Over 95% of the displaced families staying with friends and relatives are from these five Districts. An overwhelming majority of these displaced people who are unable to return to their homes are Malaiyaha families residing in the estates. Heavy rains, floods, and landslides resulting from Ditwah have severely affected the Hill Country. This disaster has particularly upended the lives of many Malaiyaha Tamils living in the plantation areas. These people, who were already living on the edge of poverty, have been pushed into a dire situation. Its impact and the resulting misery are structurally produced based on pre-disaster socio-economic inequalities. Therefore, this disaster has most heavily affected the marginalised Malaiyaha people. There are complications and challenges for the said community in accessing the various relief schemes announced by the Government and in recovering from this disaster. Key causes include a lack of priority accorded to resolving the issues of this community by the Government, the lack of policy guidance from the top levels of the Government, a general lack of experience among Government administrators in providing relief to plantation people, obstacles faced by plantation residents in accessing Government services, and, a lack of clarity regarding their land rights. The Government’s lack of attention to these has emerged as major problems and bottlenecks for relief and reconstruction work. The lack of policy clarity and transparency on the land identification process and relief eligibility are also causing serious concerns among the families affected.

Hence, the Malaiyaha Civil Collective for Reconstruction group has requested the Government to: treat the affected people with dignity; the response should not restore the Malaiyaha families to the same vulnerabilities but bring them to the mainstream by building back better; clear official communication on relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction is necessary and they being in Tamil also is essential; involve the community in consultations and as active participants of their recovery effort, and publish the process for community consultations; refrain from shifting them around with short notice or without notice from shelters to shelters; and issue a clear statement of policy clarifying the Government’s position regarding the housing rights and land rights of the community living in State, regional plantation companies (RPCs) and private estates and ensure the official authorisation of this policy position. According to the Collective’s statement issued in this regard, such should address the following: treat them on par with other citizens and adherence to the constitutional guarantee of non-discrimination; the short term disaster response should not contradict/compromise the long term demands of the community for “secure land rights and integration to the mainstream under new villages”, and apartments/multi-storey dwellings that deprive the land rights of people who have been living in these estates for generations are not acceptable; transitional shelter arrangements should be linked to long term permanent housing solutions that take into consideration the social-economic attachments of the community; clarify how and when affected people in the plantation areas will be able to access the Rs. 5 million for housing and the Rs. 5 million for land announced by the President; the President should appoint a multi-stakeholder committee with a clear mandate and a short time frame consisting of the relevant Government, Opposition, RPCs and civil society representatives to identify land options for housing and durable solutions; all decisions should be after structured community consultations based on clearly laid out options; do not use the Indian Housing Project for Ditwah disaster response as Indian housing should be available to all the long term residents in the plantations as originally envisaged and the Indian Housing Project should not discriminate between worker and long-term non-worker residents in the plantation areas; additional personnel and arrangements are essential to expedite relief work in the Hill Country regions and State mechanisms should reach out directly without using intermediaries like RPCs or the Plantation Human Development Trust in delivering relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance; flexibility in eligibility criteria and certification is essential in order for the families living in the estates to access Government announced relief schemes; and the Government must take responsibility and allocate sufficient funds to repair and reconstruct damaged plantation community infrastructure – and bring them into the national mainstream.

The Collective also called for a common action front to protect the land and housing rights of the disaster affected population and the Malaiyaha community.