Plantation companies say helpless to stop large-scale land encroachment in estates

With political backing, workers returning from WP to their estate homes due to the pandemic, clear vast areas of state land not only for cultivation but also for illegal activities, allege RPCs

Plantation Ministry Secretary Ravindra Hewavitharana said the RPCs were totally responsible for the land leased to them and they could not say they were helpless to prevent encroachment

The exodus of workers from the Western Province to the safety of their homes in the plantation sector in the wake of the worst COVID-19 upsurge in the country has aggravated the land encroachment problem in estates managed by Regional Plantations Companies (RPCs).

Regional Plantation Company (RPC) officials said the issue had become more acute after the arrival of these returnees who now grow vegetables and fruits in the encroached land to earn a living.

Vast areas of state land adjoining estate homes were being cleared by these jobless returnees with support from area politicians, while the company management watched on helplessly, the officials said.

Politicians were the biggest culprits, they said, adding that state land under the RPCs were being acquired by local politicians on the pretext of building sports complexes and welfare centres for estate workers, only to allow their cronies to move in and start crop farming and illegal activities such as gem mining and felling of valuable trees for timber.

In one such instance, a government minister had cleared a massive extent of land for chilli cultivation.

Any opposition by RPCs, the legitimate administrators of the land, was met with rebuff from the people because they had the backing of local politicians who used their political clout to silence the police, the company officials charged.

It is learnt that during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the returnees were received with open arms by area politicians who encouraged them to pick a plot of land for cultivation and settle down in the estates. They ignored the eviction notices sent by the Plantation Ministry.

Elpitiya Plantation Manager Asanka Senarath said the problem which started during the tail end of the yahapalanya government had intensified under the new regime, with the pandemic and returnees compounding the crisis.

The Sunday Times learns that the returnees do not want to work in the plantations where work goes a-begging, but they like to stay in the cottages provided to their parents and enjoy the perks provided to estate workers.

The RPCs said that most of the people who now occupied estate houses were not estate workers. The houses were given to their parent when they worked for the RPCs. In most instances, the parents have passed away but the children hold on to the houses provided by the RPCs, though they do not work for the companies.

The Plantation Welfare Trust funded by the Government, estate companies and non-governmental organisations from Canada and Scandinavian countries provide the estate workers with free water, carries out repairs to homes and even sets up crèches for their children.

Retired planter and Ceylon Planters Society’s former general secretary Russel Tennakoon said the issue of encroachment was not new.

Each estate worker was given a seven-perch land with a cottage by the RPCs, but the workers cleared the adjacent areas, sometimes virgin forests on elevated land, thereby exposing mountain tops to soil erosion.

“This should not have been allowed as virgin forests protect nature,” he said, adding that this might be a reason for frequent landslides in hilly areas during the monsoons.

Mr. Tennakoon also blamed corruption within RPCs for the land encroachment and environmental damage. He claimed the illegal activities were taking place with the blessings of some corrupt RPC officials who turned a blind eye to happenings around them.

“Outsiders cannot come and destroy the forest,” he said.

Questioning such action can get one into trouble costing a planter's job.

In one such incident in Galle, the RPC management transferred an employee to the Nuwara Eliya district after a local council member threatened him with bodily harm following a dispute.

Often, action filed in courts get inordinately drawn out with some cases not taken up for years.

Planters said the profession had lost its glamour and more people were shying away from holding the job.

Meanwhile, the RPCs expressed concerns that if the encroachment continued unchecked, they would be left with little land to hand back to the Government when the lease period ended.

The plantations were nationalised in 1972 by the Sirima Bandraranaike Government in keeping with its socialist economic agenda. Later when the estates became loss- making state enterprises, the United National Party Government in 1994 handed them over to private companies to manage for 99 years.

Since then regular land audits carried out by the Auditor General's Department (AGD) had been stalled as RPCs refused to pay for the audit. For the past 27 years, only financial audits have been carried out by the Auditor General.

Planters say that by using modern technology such as geographic information systems the extent of land encroached can be determined with ease.

Plantation Ministry Secretary Ravindra Hewavitharana said the RPCs were totally responsible for the land leased to them and they could not say they were helpless to prevent encroachment and illegal activities.

“Any such illegal activity has to be brought to the notice of the nearest police station and the police have to do their duty,” he said, adding that he would look into the matter immediately.

Meanwhile Ceylon Planters Association (CPA) president Bathiya Bullumulla said the Government should take swift action to curb the problem.

He said the RPCs had done everything to stop encroachment but without the support of the Government they would not succeed.

He said the Plantation Ministry was not acting upon their complaints while the Competent Authority had ceased signing eviction notices. As a result, the CPA had taken up the matter with Plantation Minister Ramesh Pathirana who had promised to take action soon.

“We need the support of the Government, as we are protecting state land,” Mr. Bulumulla said.