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| Sunday, 4 December 2005 |
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Three-pronged plan to develop plantation infrastructure
Estate Infrastructure and Livestock Development Minister R.M.C.B. RATNAYAKE in an interview with the SUNDAY OBSERVER STAFFER M.P. MUTTIAH said that plantation areas would be developed under a three-pronged plan- Praja Sakthiya, Praja Nenesa and Praja Suva Seva. Question: What is your new plan to develop plantation areas? Answer: My aim is to provide a better education to the plantation children. First, the level of education in the estate sector is very low. They should be provided an education that meets the needs of the 21st century. The number of plantation students entering universities is minimal. This number should be increased and my Ministry would provide physical and human resources needed through the Praja Nenesa Program. It was found that 252 schools in the estate sector do not come under Provincial Councils or any other projects such as Navodaya. I am preparing a Cabinet Memorandum on this subject and these schools would be developed in the Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Ratnapura, Kalutara, Avisswella, Deniyaya and other estate areas. In the Nuwara Eliya District, malnutrition among children and mothers is the highest in the country. Lack of health education and carelessness among mothers are some of the reasons for this sad situation. Women work hard to maintain their families, while a considerable amount of money is spent on the consumption of liquor by their partners. Nuwara Eliya District has the most number of liquor outlets in the country. Therefore, I would take necessary steps to provide health education and facilities to protect younger generation from these social evils. Under the Praja Sakthiya program, I intend to train media personnel from the plantation sector. There is hardly any announcer from the estate areas who are in the TV channels. I hope to train some presenters by April next year. I must stress the necessity of providing knowledge in information technology to the estate youths.As the Livestock Development comes under my purview, when Uva Wellessa University is fully set up, an affiliated university college would be opened in the plantation area. This would help increase the income of milk producers in the estates. Q: At present, unemployment among the plantation youth is high and as such they are frustrated. Do you have any plans to solve this problem? A: When I was the Estate Infrastructure and Community Development Minister, my Secretary Dr. Ramanujam drew a plan to provide employment to estate youths in the public administration sector, health sector etc. Two thousand seven hundred and eighty two young men and women were interviewed to be appointed as co-ordinating officers in the public administration sector, where Tamil people undergo hardships due to language barrier,a social injustice. However, when the new Minister took over from me these appointments were shelved, and he said he would give 3,000 teaching appointments, but one of the parliamentarians from their own trade union organisation went to the courts against this move and the problem is not solved. However, I am prepared to give employment to plantation youths in the future according to my previous scheme. Q: Estate workers languish in line rooms for more than one and a half centuries. Their housing problem has not been solved. What is your proposal to solve this? A: Central Provincial Councillors S. Arulsamy, P. Dhihambaram and S. Govindaraj are an added strength to me. Their proposal on estate housing has been included in the `Mahinda Chinthanaya'. They have proposed providing seven perches of land. This would be taken into consideration. When I was the Minister on an earlier occasion, my Secretary Dr. Ramanujam drew a three-year plan. A loan agreement was signed with the Asian Development Bank to build 13,000 houses. When I left the Ministry along with my Secretary, no one pursued the matter. Now my ministry has started to re-activate this loan scheme. Further, the Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse had earlier decided to build 25,000 single houses for the estate workers. However we have now proposed to build 50,000 houses next year in a big way to solve this problem. Funds allocated to the Estate Infrastructure Ministry and Housing Ministry will be utilised for this purpose. Likewise, we have decided to incorporate estate dispensaries and hospitals with government health institutions. Medical Officers would be provided to these hospitals and my Ministry hopes to talk with the Health Ministry. When I was the Estate Infrastructure Minister, my Secretary had talks with the Indian High Commissioner to provide five buses to conduct mobile medical services to estates, so that the worker could get medical treatment in the estate itself. Our plan was to provide a medical officer, a nurse, an attendant and a pharmacist to visit the estates in the mobile bus. India is helping us to build a hospital in Dickoya, and the Nuwara Eliya hospital will be further developed at a cost of Rs.300 million. I must admit that roads in the plantation areas are in a deplorable condition. Nearly 200 kilometre-roads will be repaired. President Mahinda Rajapakse allocated funds to repair these roads when he was Highways Minister then, and 104 roads are being repaired at present. To speed up the process of estate development, an Authority will be established shortly. A National Policy Plan would be drawn up so that no change of government could use the Authority for political gains. The Saumyamoorthi Thondaman Memorial Foundation, which comes under the Estate Infrastructure Ministry, had spent Rs. 69.5 million recently. As the Minister of this Ministry, I have requested the Secretary to investigate and submit a report on the expenditure. |
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