Eighty-year-old Gopal Sandanam, a Malaiyaha Tamil, was born in Hammeliyawatte (Hammeliya estate) in the Baddegama Division in the Galle District in 1945. He started working on the estate when he was around 14 years and continued working till about 2022 when he was 77. His parents are amongst those buried in the cemetery on the estate, to which he has no access to now after it was sold. He has never been to school.
His wife, Thekkamalai Thangai, has been living in Hammeliyawatte since 1949 and also worked on the estate. She recalls the 1970s and 1980s riots where Tamils living on estates were attacked and their belongings destroyed. This led to her and others going into hiding and subsequently displaced to another area. After returning, she and her siblings were displaced again due to the unwillingness of the owner to repair line rooms which were falling apart. However, they returned to Hammeliyawatte after some time, owing to the owner preventing her parents from relocating.
Their daughter, Valliamma, had started plucking tea when she was 12. She recalls that when she was small, she and other children of estate workers were compelled to go and play with the estate owner’s daughter and had they not done so they were beaten. She recalls being beaten at least twice in front of her parents. The owners had also used derogatory words like “wareng (come)” and “palayang (go)” and she recalls that she and other children were sent as servants to the estate owner’s relatives’ houses. She also stated that she, her family and others in the estate had been displaced twice. The first was in the 1980s due to riots. They were initially hiding in tea and rubber estates and were compelled to relocate in fear, as goons invaded their line rooms looting brassware belonging to her grandfather. Later, in the 1990s, they were displaced again as the line rooms became unliveable and the estate owner was not willing to renovate. Valliamma’s daughter is married to Selvaraj, who worked on the estate from 2007 to 2023, but has not worked since then because no work was available.
Background
Hammeliyawatte was earlier known as Wilegodawatte (Wilegoda Estate) and Wilegodakanda (Wilegoda Mountain) and before that as Walpitawatte (Walpita Estate). Though tea and rubber were cultivated earlier, cinnamon is now cultivated on the estate, which is about 77 acres in extent, was owned by one Jayantha Samarasinghe, and after he passed away, it was managed by his wife, a teacher and principal in the local school.
An external caretaker is now employed to look after the estate, and the Hammeliyawatte residents claim the owners have provided him with land and a house. The residents also allege the caretaker is engaged in activities detrimental to the estate such as cutting trees and was abusive towards them. On one occasion, the male caretaker had been watching a female resident while bathing and when confronted by her husband he had tried to beat him. Other residents had tried to restrain the caretaker, but the husband was arrested and remanded for some days. The case against the husband is still continuing.
Most of the estate was sold at various stages and six acres remain. The portion of land which was the estate workers’ cemetery, was also sold and they have no access to pay respects and conduct rituals for their family members buried there.
More than 20 families spanning five generations have lived in Hammeliyawatte. But, at present, there are only nine families and 25 persons (including children and two working overseas). The oldest like Gopal are about 80 years, and his parents had also lived in Hammeliyawatte.
Workers’ rights
None of the workers, spanning four generations of Hammeliyawatte residents, were provided any documentation about their employment and none received information about statutory contributions being made to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees Trust Fund (ETF). This is despite some having worked for more than 60 years on the estate.
Those on the estate remember that wages were not paid in cash and instead, workers had received slips from the owner to purchase dry rations from a nearby shop. A Sinhalese villager who was employed in a shop confirms Gopal and his resident colleagues used to get groceries from the shop and that payment was made from a “chit” sent by the owner.
Workers recall that around 2007, they were paid about Rs. 500 per day for cultivating, treating, and harvesting cinnamon. By 2023, the daily wage had increased to about Rs. 1,500.
Although the workers contributed their labour for decades, the estate management failed to ensure their legal entitlements to social security and retirement benefits. The elderly, in particular, are extremely vulnerable in terms of financial stability and healthcare.
Since about 2005, only irregular work has been offered. Thus, people were compelled to seek other work, especially casual labour in factories, but the owner opposed this.
Education
At least two generations of Hammeliyawatte residents have not attended school where ironically, the owner’s wife was a teacher and principal of the local school, who denied and opposed educational opportunities for children on her own estate.
Housing and road access
The families live in old line rooms, which are severely dilapidated, unsafe, and unfit for human habitation. Cracks run across the walls, rooves leak, and many sections are on the verge of collapse. The lack of repairs or investment over generations has left the families exposed to rain, wind, and extreme weather. Children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable, as the unsafe housing poses serious risks of injury and health complications.
The narrow, unmaintained road leading from the main road to the house is in a bad condition. It’s not traversable during the rainy season, turning muddy and slippery, and making even basic movement hazardous. Vehicles, including ambulances or other emergency services, or even a motorcycle cannot come near the line rooms, isolating the families from essential services and quick medical assistance. This has deepened the sense of abandonment experienced by the residents, further marginalising them from the wider community.
The residents claim that the small area they live in now is amongst the few habitable places in the estate, as most of the mountain is made up of rock.
Proof of residence, links with the adjoining village
Birth certificates and national identity cards of residents indicate the places of birth as Hammeliyawatte. Residents state they have voted and received electricity, both of which were confirmed by a former Local Government (Pradeshiya Sabha) Member.
They have a good relationship with the people in the adjoining village, who are mostly Sinhalese. These villagers recall that previously there were more people on the estate. One villager recalled that shooting for a film named ‘Karumakkarayo’ was done around the village and that some people from Hammeliyawatte were also in the film.
Fears of eviction
On 5 July this year, the daughter of the present owner, Sasanka Samarasinghe, visited Hammeliyawatte and informed residents that she planned to sell the remaining six acres of land to a buyer who intended to build a hotel.
The owner asked the residents to leave Hammeliyawatte within three months, latest by 5 October. She said the elders will be sent to an elders’ home and other families will be given Rs. 200,000 each after they move from the estate. Later, she had called and informed a resident that she could provide Rs. 50,000 to the elderly person in the said family if he stayed with his relatives and that the others could build houses with the Rs. 200,000 she was offering. The owner had requested phone numbers of the other residents and suggested they relocate to another estate in Habaraduwa, a different division in the Galle District.
Resistance
For over 80 years and across five generations, the Malaiyaha people have lived and worked on this estate, contributing their labour to its growth while enduring systemic neglect, discrimination and exploitation. They were denied their land rights, an adequate standard of housing and sanitation, an access road that allows motor vehicles, worker’s rights including the denial of payment and statutory entitlements like EPF and ETF and education. They have also been subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment and subjected to harassments and reprisals by owners, staff employed by the owners and even the Police, as indicated in relation to an incident involving the present caretaker. Now, they are facing imminent eviction.
But, unlike before, they are now getting organised and are ready to resist.
They have visited the local Buddhist temple and shared their plight. The temple indicated that they are sympathetic to the cause of the Hammeliyawatte residents and that justice must be done for them. The monk at the temple shared that it would be a great injustice if the people who had worked for decades would be evicted with no land or housing arranged. “Where will they go? What can they do with Rs. 200,000?” the monk asked.
Villagers from the neighbouring village were also very sympathetic and expressed anger at the news that their long-time neighbours in Hammeliyawatte might be evicted. A local women’s society had shared that they are ready to join the villagers in protest against any potential eviction.
The community also sought help and advice from human rights (HR) activists and lawyers who have visited the estate, observed their living conditions and listened to their stories. They had visited a Malaiyaha community in Ananthapuram (previously the Bathalagoda Estate), in the Kurunegala District, who had waged a successful community struggle in the face of eviction and were able to obtain land and housing. Most recently, a group of journalists visited the estate and met with residents and observed their living conditions.
Threats of imminent evictions have been brought to the notice of the Deputy Minister of Plantation and Estate Infrastructure and the Governor of the Southern Province by residents. Even before the recent threats of evictions, they had also brought their situation and challenges to the notice of the Prime Minister and the District Secretary for Galle.
The Estate Quarters (Special Provisions) Act, No. 2 of 1971 provides that employees of estates who are provided quarters on the estate have a right to occupy such quarters even after the termination of employment and may not be evicted without a court order.
The nine families have written to the owner explaining their circumstances, and demanding 15 perches of land with legal deeds for each family, within the same estate or in the immediate vicinity and assistance to build a house. This will enable them to live with dignity where their ancestors lived and worked. Without land and housing rights, these families risk losing not only their homes but also their cultural and social roots.
(The writer is an HR activist)
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication