HATTON – People living in Sri Lanka without land in 200 years

A people’s march and rally was held in Hatton town by bringing together several civil organizations in Colombo and the hill country under the theme that the “Right to a land is a human right”, highlighting why the hill people “need land” to live. The Movements of Plantation People Land Rights organized this march and public rally in Hatton town on June 21st, Land Day.

To celebrate the Land Day, in the morning , a media conference was held followed by a march with Tamil cultural elements including posters and banners presenting their demands, to the Krishnabhavan Hall from Mallikaipoo junction and then a public rally was held at the Krishnabhavan hall.

Lalith Abeysinghe, a member of the Movement for the Land Rights of Plantation People, speaking at the media conference, said that we will remind the government and the people of Sri Lanka again and again, especially on this special day called Land Day, about the basic need or the basic right of these plantation people for a “plot of land”.

“These Tamil people, who are called the Indian Tamil people by the population and census department, who earn the most foreign exchange for the development of the country, who have worked hard to place the brand name ‘Ceylon Tea’ at the top in the world, even to build railways and highways in Sri Lanka, have put their lives, sweat and tears, also their future, even after living in the middle of this country for 200 years, happen to demand Land ownership of more than a million people.” Said Lalith Abeysinghe.

“I don’t want to name this community as a community from India. They are a Sri Lankan community. They are Hill country Tamil people who have lived for 8 generations. But these hill country Tamil people are a community that has been living a very sad and very difficult life for that long.” he said.

At one time, Sri Lanka was at a high position among the indicators of life expectancy at birth, literacy, infant mortality etc. and at that time, a magazine called The New Internationalist recalled that Sri Lanka was called as First world of Third world.

But he also said that they are in a very weak and miserable condition in matching these indicators with the plantation people.

Lalith Abeysinghe also explained that if suitable land is given to these farmers who have an innate ability to grow vegetables for agriculture and milk production, they will be able to get a lot of support for Sri Lanka’s food production needs.

Abeysinghe further stated that in receiving a land, a human being is freed, changed, innovated and greatly improved, therefore giving land to the plantation people in a suitable manner is a human right that must be fulfilled even now.

With the participation of more than 20 organizations, this press conference and then the march and the rally held in Hatton town were held, and several leaders of the organizations gave their comments to the media and said that it is a very sad case that a landless people are living in Sri Lanka for 200 years.

Chintaka Rajapaksa, the Modarator of the Land and Agriculture Reform Movement (MONLAR), said that this is an opportunity to right a historical wrong.

He said that the politicians, companies and some trade unions who used the people for their own purposes on behalf of the plantations worked to prevent the land and housing rights from being given to these mountain people who have been toiling for 200 years.

He recalled that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa once said that there were 37,000 hectares of land in the hill country to be given to these people, but later they were given to companies and other groups.

Therefore, Chinthaka Rajapaksa also emphasized in the press conference that the entire people should come together and work together to give this right to the people who have been wronged by all governments.

On this occasion, several representatives of the plantation sector and civil Society organizations made brief comments and emphasized that the authorities should expedite the steps to provide land to the hill people.

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