Don't employ estate children as domestic aides

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Justice and Law Reforms Deputy Minister V. Puthirasigamoney called upon residents in Colombo and other areas to refrain from employing estate children as domestic aides.

The Deputy Minister said so in response to a question raised at a media briefing in Colombo on Friday following the untimely deaths of two teenaged estate girls Maduraveeran Jeevarani (13) and Lethchuman Sumathi (14) who were employed as domestic aides at two residences in Colombo 7. The girls were from the Maskeliya plantation areas. Their bodies were found in a canal, near the homes where they had been employed.

The Deputy Minister who is a representative of the estate workers in the Nuwara Eliya District, said it had become a common occurrence where agents from Colombo and other areas were in the habit of visiting estates and taking away poor chidden, especially girls from estates for domestic employment at Colombo residences.