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| Sunday, 29 August 2004 |
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ADB aid sought to uplift plantation workers by Hiran H.Senewiratne The Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT) is seeking Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance to embark on major social welfare programs to improve the living conditions of the plantation workers in the next few years. The main objective of the PHDT is to support the Regional Plantation Companies (RPC) to improve the living conditions of plantation workers to prevent an exodus from the estates, PHDT Director General Ranjith Ellegala said. The PHDT's main agends is the housing project, which they expected to construct more than 30,000 seperate houses in the sector with the assistance of donor funds, instead of current line houses. Some developed countries have stopped buying,mainly tea from importers due to poor labour standards. This has inspired them to give more priority to this area, Ellegala added. Under the first phase of the program it is targeted to construct more than 20,000 house in the estate sector . At present more than 9000 houses have already been built and another 10,000 more houses will be built before next June. This aid program was funded by Netherlands and Norway, and will be completed next year.The funding program was inaugurated in 1998,he said. The PHDT has a network with all RPC covering more than 384 estates including tea, rubber and coconut, in the country . "To move the second phase forward we are looking at Asian Development Bank assistance", Ellagala said. The problem that looms large in this sector is the outer-migration of labour, which has been encountered by the industry for a considerable period of time."Social welfare programs are needed to keep them within the sector," he said . This program was mainly designed to solve the housing needs in the plantation areas, which is one of the major problems in the sector.These social welfare schemes help to stop the outer- migration of the workforce to a large extent, he said. This program has been a great success due to the reduction of considerable outer migration of workers in estates, from the time the scheme was launched, the Director General said. "This has enhanced the quality and dignity of labour with the passage of time", he added . Under this program each family gets seven to eight perches of land to build a house of their own on the estate where they are belong, instead of present line houses, he said. According to Ellegala each worker is entitled to a grant of Rs 50,000 along with a loan of Rs 50,000, which can be paid in 15 years. The second phase of the program expected to begin in 2006 and extend to 2011 is to provide a further 10,000 houses and for which they are how struggling to obtain ADB funds. Once the whole program is completed more than 225,000 individuals will be benefited, which comprises 40 per cent of the total population in the plantation workforce, Ellegala added. Apart from the housing project, the PHDT has many programs such as Plantation Reform Projects, Estate Infrastructure Development Programs, UNICEF assisted project for estate sector and Plantation Development Support Programme. He said that appalling living conditions, particularly in health and environment at the time of nationalisation of the estates, urged the government to adopt a wide range of health and welfare interventions with greater emphasis on preventive health. Ellagala said that the PHDT's main activities for the betterment of the plantation community are the construction of new houses and the upgrading of existing housing, water supply,sanitation, staff quarters, farm roads and re-roofing of line rooms and improvements to the living environment. The PHDT was formally the Plantation Housing and Social Welfare Trust (PHSWT) until 1992, to facilitate and co-ordinate social development activities and social investment in the newly privatised environment. The PHDT conducts annual competitions to select the best estate of the year and this year Summerset Estate has won the top slot.Its Superintendent is Senaka Allawatthegama, he added. The PHDT board comprises RPCs ,trade unions, all line Ministries of the government and one of the members of the Treasury.This was established under the Company's Act.The Chairman of the PHDT is the Secretory to the Ministry of Plantation Industries. Social development interventions dating back to the time of the Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation (SLSPC) and the Janatha Estates Development Board (JEDB) were entrusted with the ownership and management of all large tea,rubber and coconut plantations consequent to the Land Reform effected in two stages in 1972 and 1975. |
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