Sri Lankan expat takes initiative to uplift estate workers’ lives

Sri Lankan born C. Selvararajah, now a leading Solicitor in London, UK, heading his own legal firm said he hopes to initiate several programmes to support the uplift of education and living standards of needy families working in the plantation sector in Sri Lanka.

Selvararajah who was in Colombo for a holiday, said he hopes to discuss with relevant authorities in this regard while putting forward several proposals which he said will be backed by the diaspora and other influential international organizations.

He went on to say although the estate sector is a high foreign exchange earner for the country, estate workers are still underpaid and also lack basic facilities such as proper housing, healthcare and education.

“The wages given to them are not in keeping with the galloping rate of inflation. Also they face difficulties when obtaining necessary identification documents including passports,” he added.

He said that the Government has taken some commendable measures in recent times such as permanent housing, identification papers and providing permanent addresses, but should pay more attention towards investing in the well-being of the Sri Lankan estate worker community.

Also, he said that it is praiseworthy that India has come forward to build permanent houses for plantation workers and added more houses are needed to accommodate all workers who do not have proper housing.

Already, a large number of the estate sector workers, especially from the age group between 25 and 40, have started leaving the plantations sector and moving towards urban areas in search of more lucrative employment and if this continues the industry would face a labour shortage in the near future, he said.

Selvarajah added that it appears that the Government was exploring all possible options to mitigate the worst effects of the economic crisis, but for estate employees increasing wages was a top priority.

He said he could obtain support from some international donors to support efforts to improveamenities, including housing, sanitation and hygiene facilities of plantation workers and intends to have talks with relevant officials soon in this regard.

The post Sri Lankan expat takes initiative to uplift estate workers’ lives appeared first on DailyNews.