The journey from the leaf to the cup

By P. Krishnaswamy

The road to New Peacock Estate from Gampola snakes through a panoramic view; rolling hills, lush greenery, streams, small townships, villages, schools and tea estates intermittently laid out. Some places are breathtakingly beautiful. So are many things in New Peacock Estate - the location of the tea factory, the General Manager's bungalow, the staff quarters, the Child Development Centre (the renamed creche), the tea fields and the eucalyptus plantations.

On an invitation by the Planters' Association of Ceylon (PA), the representative body of the Regional Plantation Companies (RPC), the Sunday Observer undertook a visit to the estate in Pussellawa, in the heartland of Sri Lanka's commercial tea production dating back over one and a half centuries. The visit was to obtain a first hand knowledge on the living and working conditions of the workers and the labour-management relations. The estate, one of the RPCs - the Elpitiya Plantations PLC - is now managed by Aitken Spence Plantations. Interestingly the PA, pioneer of the tea industry, was established in 1854 and the first estate for tea export production, Loolcondera Estate, was started by them in the same area as New Peacock some two decades later.

MD Sarath Pahathkumbura

Allimuthu Balakrishnan

Packianathan Bawani

On entering the estate we first went to the office where the General Manager, Senarath Pahathkumbura was waiting for us. He is a very courteous gentleman with a long experience as a tea planter. He answered all our questions, mainly relating to industrial relations, shortcomings of the workers and the management, sustainability of the tea industry and the long-term problems, the management faced.

As per the display boards in the GM's office, the estate was managed by Whittalls Estates & Agencies Ltd prior to nationalisation. Until 1955 Englishmen had continued to be superintendents or managers. From 1920 to 1960 A.G. Brabazon, A.S. Montegomary, H.S. Hurst and L. Ebshells had remained managers and, interestingly, one time State Minister of Defence Ranjan Wijeratne was the first Sri Lankan to be manager of the estate after them.

We were also taken to tea fields where pluckers were at work, weighing sheds, the tea factory installed with the modern CTC machines, the Child Development Centre and the eucalyptus plantations. The 535 hectare estate has three divisions and 532 registered workers, comprising about 3,000 persons as family members. Each division has a government school up to primary level and a common dispensary. There is an estate ambulance to transport the sick to the Pussellawa Government Hospital. The Medical Officer of Health (MOH) for the area pays monthly visits to the estates to examine and prescribe medicine to the sick, according to the estate management. Female workers are entitled to 72 days paid maternity leave at the rate of Rs. 410 per day (total Rs. 29,520) for the first two children, management sources said. For the third child the management pays at the rate of Rs. 410 per day for 36 days.

The People's Bank and the Bank of Ceylon granted them soft loans to renovate and upgrade school buildings, MD Pahathkumbura said. Families of this estate have not so far been benefited under the modern housing units provided by the Economic Development Ministry and the National Housing Development Authority (NHDH). But the Sunday Observer found that the narrow and unclean line-room quarters were no longer visible and the workers had, on their own initiative, extended and expanded their line-room quarters. The estate management gave 7 perches of land to a family for the construction of new houses and the Cooperative Society established for them provided long-term housing loans up to a ceiling of Rs. 50,000, he said.

He said some of the families engaged in dairy farming while working on the estate and the management had provided them the facility of cut-grass from ravines in the estate while they also had developed small plots of grasslands at the backyards of their homes.

The living quarters of the workers are provided pipe-borne water. Electricity has so far been provided to 85 percent of the families. The estate management is encouraging sports among the workers and, volleyball being their favourite game, volleyball courts and all other assistance to promote the game have been provided, Pahathkumbura said.

The estate management provided the mid-day meal and a glass of milk to each child, Pahathkumbura said. Each year the management provided a school bag and books for the children. Fifty percent of the cost of the uniforms are borne by the management while the balance is borne by the parents, he said.

At the weighing sheds we talked to both, female and male workers about their monthly income, working and living conditions and housing as compared to that of their parents or forefathers. Many had been in estates for four to five generations. As an important milestone in the history of the plantation community, New Peacock Estate has given name tags, with designations, to all workers to be worn while on duty.

Packianathan Bawani (28), one of the Harvesting Assistants we talked to said her husband M. Sivapragasam (31) and she are employed on the estate and her monthly wage is Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 16,000 and her husband's was about Rs. 11,000. They have two children, a girl aged 7 and a boy aged 6 and that both are schooling in the government school in New Peacock Estate. Her retired parents are also living with her. The income from their employment on the estate is substantial compared to what her parents got and she had nothing to complain, she said. They have a TV set with satellite connection. Almost all families in the estate had TV sets with satellite connections, she said. Most of the families have telephones, either mobile phones or land phones, she said. The services provided at the CDC, including the pre-school education, are excellent, she said. Allimuthu Balakrishnan (47), a male worker said his wife Sinnapooranam Yogarani (37) and he are employed on the estate for 20 years and 30 years respectively and their children are schooling. He said his monthly wages is about Rs. 10,000 while that of his wife is Rs. 12,000 or more depending on the attendance. He said he is rearing goats to supplement their income.

He said they have been on the same estate for five generations. He was not given the Bank Loan or the NHDA loan for renovating his house, but only the Cooperative Society gave a soft loan of Rs. 25,000. The Cooperative Society also extended financial assistance for weddings, funerals and other important functions in the family, he said. He on his own expenditure renovated and expanded his house, he said. We talked to some more workers selecting them at random at the weighing shed and in the tea fields and all of them expressed similar views in relation to the services at the CDC and other facilities.