By Yogeshwari Krishnan
The Institute of Social Development (ISD) and civil organisations have decided to hold a public demonstration and a press conference on 3 October to exert pressure on the Government to grant the title deeds to 37,000 houses as well as an adequate housing scheme for the plantation community.
Currently, 200,000 plantation families live in 10x12 line rooms which were built 150 years ago by British planters. Even though civil society has raised the issue of housing rights from time to time, the rulers have failed to solve this fundamental rights concern.
Tea plantation workers have brought foreign income into the country since its inception. While successive governments since 1987 have built 37,000 houses with the support of foreign aid, title deeds have still not been given to the inhabitants of the houses who repaid the loan.
Hence, it is necessary to pressurise the Government to grant title deeds and to bring the housing rights issue to the attention of the wider public.
Housing rights
The Hill Country Tamil (HCT) community lives in plantation line rooms where 8-10 family members live in cramped and adverse conditions.
The United Nations General Assembly declared 1987 the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (IYSH) with the goal of adequate shelter for all by 2000, improving the living conditions of the poor and disadvantaged in developing countries, thereby meeting this most fundamental of human needs.
Sri Lanka was one of the countries which addressed this global announcement by initiating a number of modern housing schemes to cater to the poor and the homeless. However, a section of the community, namely the Hill Country Plantation Tamil community, was neglected in this process.
In August 2004, the Government introduced the single flat housing scheme for plantation workers. This housing scheme, which had been introduced by the British for the plantation community, was opposed due to various setbacks and the houses were later abandoned.
Unfortunately, between 1980 and 2014, only 31,000 houses have been constructed on tea and rubber plantations. This amounts to no more than 912 houses each year – nowhere near the number that is needed to replace the currently available housing which is unfit for habitation. At the current rate of building new houses, it would take a further 175 years to ensure that the existing number of households (that is, excluding their natural increase) will benefit from the housing programme.
The right to adequate housing is a directive principle of State policy as declared under Article 27(2) of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. This right is claimed by the plantation community, who are no longer stateless and disenfranchised as before.
Dire straits
Almost 68% of households in the plantations live in line rooms. This type of housing is inadequate and inhuman and is blamed for many of the social problems faced by the plantation community, which have contributed to their insecurity and marginalisation.
The line rooms, which are occupied by the majority of the plantation labour force who are engaged in production, are tiny in size and have poor ventilation and no natural light. These dwellings are dark, dank, smoke-filled, and unsanitary. The kerosene lamp is the only source of light. As one household could have eight members spanning more than one generation sharing the same cramped space, line rooms are also overcrowded.
Open drains run parallel to the line rooms, creating a stench and carrying disease. Common latrines were introduced later but are often unusable through lack of maintenance, forcing residents to resort to open urination and defecation. Water had to be collected and carried for long distances and across hilly terrain, usually by women and children, from any available source (stream, waterfall, or well) and only much later was it piped to a common stand-tap in the vicinity of the line.
Housing loans and EPF
Amid strong objections, under certain housing programmes, plantation workers have had to borrow from their Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account balance, which meant that they were levied interest on the use of their own savings.
Trade unionists insist that it is improper to use the EPF benefits as a bond or security for the loan. It is instead advocated that the housing loan should be interest-free, where it is financed from the EPF and the appropriate collateral is the title to the house, which should be vested in the beneficiary.
Housing loans should be flexible depending upon the income and housing needs of the specific household, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ policy, which assumes that the standard quantum and fixed period of repayment is the right package for every household.
To safeguard the entitlements and security from homelessness of women, it is important that their co-ownership with their husbands be recognised. This is particularly justified, because it is often the case that the deductions and payments for the housing loan are from the wages of the woman worker, as she is likely to be in regular employment on the plantation rather than her husband.
10 perches per family
The longstanding demand of plantation community civil society organisations has been the allocation of at least 10 perches of land for housing and vegetable garden to each household. Also, it is mistaken to assign housing units on the basis of existing households, as more than one family may be living together in the existing household.
Therefore, housing needs and supply should factor the number of families on the plantations; each of whom should be housed individually to overcome rather than simply shift the problem of overcrowding, lack of privacy, and the associated tensions and conflicts.
The housing programme should be under the direction of relevant national State agencies, ensuring that the plantation community is not treated less favourably than beneficiaries of other ethnicities and in other sectors. There should not be involvement by the estate management in these schemes.
(Source: ‘Gain the Ownership of Newly-Built Estate Houses by Institute of Social Development,’ Kandy, 2015.)
Grant title deeds of estate houses
02 Oct 2022
Grant title deeds of estate houses
02 Oct 2022