Hammeliyawatte: Decades of Exploitation and Imminent Eviction

Photo courtesy of VOA

Eighty year-old Gopal Sandanam, a Malaiyaha Tamil, was born in Hammeliyawatte in the Baddegama division in Galle district in 1945. He had started working on the estate when he was 14 years and had continued working until he was 77 years. His parents are among those who are buried in the cemetery on the estate to which he has no access now after it was sold. He has never been to school.

His wife Thekkamalai Thangai had been living in Hammeliyawatte since 1949. She also worked on the estate. She recalls riots in 1980s where Tamils in estates were attacked and their belongings destroyed. This had led to her and others going into hiding and being displaced to another area. After returning she and her siblings were displaced again due to unwillingness of owner to repair line rooms that were falling apart. However, the owner prevented her parents from relocating with them and they returned to Hammeliyawatte after some time.

Their daughter Valliamma started pluck tea leaves when she was 12 years. She recalls that when she was small, she and other children of estate workers were compelled to go and play with estate owner’s daughter and if they didn’t go, they would be beaten. She recalls being beaten at least twice in front of her parents. The owners used derogatory words like wareng (come) and palayang (go) and she recalls that she and other children were sent as servants to estate owner’s relatives houses. She stated that she, her family and others on the estate had been displaced twice. First was in 1980s due to riots. They were initially hiding on tea and rubber estates and were compelled to relocate in fear as goons invaded their line rooms and looted brassware that her grandfather had. Later, in 1990s, they were again displaced as the line rooms became unliveable and the estate owner was not willing to do renovations.

Valliamma’s daughter is married to Selvaraj. He had worked on the estate from about 2007 to 2023 but that there has been no work offered since 2023.

Background

Hammeliyawatte was also known as Wilegodawatte. Although tea and rubber used to be cultivated, in recent years cinnamon replaced the two crops. The estate was about 77 acres and when the owner passed away it was managed by his wife who was a teacher and principal in the local school.

An external caretaker has been employed to look into the estate in recent years and Hammeliyawatte residents claim he has been provided land and house by the owners. The residents also allege that the caretaker is engaged in activities detrimental to the estate such as cutting trees and he has been abusive towards them. On one occasion, the male caretaker had been watching a woman on the estate bathing and when he was confronted by her husband, he had tried to beat the husband. Other residents had tried to restrain the caretaker but the husband was arrested and remanded for some days. The case against the husband is still continuing.

Most of the estate has been sold at various stages and six acres is all that is remaining. The part of the land that served as the cemetery of the estate workers was sold and the people have no access to pay respects and perform rituals for their dead family members buried there. More than 20 families spanning five generations had lived in Hammeliyawatte. But at present, there are only nine families and 25 people including children and two working overseas.

Worker’s rights

None of the workers, spanning four generations of Hammeliyawatte residents, have been provided any documentation about their employment and none had received information about statutory contributions being made to the Employers Provident Fund (EPF) and Employers Trust Fund (ETF) despite some having worked for more than 60 years on the estate.

Those on the estate remember when wages were not paid in cash but workers received slips from the owner to purchase dry rations from a nearby shop. A Sinhalese villager who was employed in a shop confirms that those like Gopal used to get groceries from the shop and payment was through a chit sent by the owner.

Workers recall that around 2007 they were paid about Rs. 500 per day for cultivating, treating and harvesting cinnamon. By 2023, the daily wage had increased to about Rs. 1,500.

Although the workers contributed their labour for decades, the estate management failed to ensure their legal entitlements to social security and retirement benefits. The elderly in particular are extremely vulnerable in terms of financial stability and health care. Since about 2005, only irregular work has been offered so people have been compelled to seek other work, especially casual labour and in factories, but the owner has opposed this.

At least two generations have not gone to school. Ironically, the owner’s wife was a teacher and principal in the local school while denying and opposing educational opportunities for children on her own estate.

Housing and access road

The families live in old line rooms, which are severely dilapidated, unsafe and unfit for human habitation. Cracks run across the walls, roofs are leaking and many sections are on the verge of collapse. The lack of repairs or investment over generations has left the families exposed to rain, wind and extreme weather. Children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable as the unsafe housing poses serious risks of injury and health complications.

The narrow, unmaintained road leading from the main road to the houses is in poor condition. During the rainy season it becomes almost unusable, turning muddy and slippery and making even basic movement hazardous. Vehicles, including ambulances or other emergency services or even a cycle cannot come near the line rooms, isolating the families from essential services and quick medical assistance. This has deepened the sense of abandonment experienced by the residents, further marginalising them from the wider community.

The residents claim the small area they live now is amongst the few habitable places on the estate as most of the mountain is rock.

Proof of residence and links with adjoining village

Birth certificates and national identity cards of residents indicate places of birth as Hammeliyawatte. Residents stated that they have been voting and received electricity, both of which were confirmed by a former Local Government Council member.

They have had a good relationship with people in the adjoining village, who are mostly Sinhalese. These villagers recall that many more people were on the estate previously. One villager recalled that shooting for a film was done around the village and that some people from Hammeliyawatte were also in the film.

Fears of eviction

On July 5, 2025, the daughter of the present owner visited Hammeliyawatte and informed the residents she plans to sell the remaining six acres of land to a buyer who intends to build a hotel.

The owner had asked the residents to leave Hammeliyawatte within three months, by October 5, 2025. She said that the elders will be sent to an elders’ home and other families will be given Rs. 200,000 each after they move from the estate. Later, she called and informed a resident that she could provide Rs. 50,000 to the elderly person if he goes to stay with his relatives and that the others could build houses with the Rs. 200,000 she was offering. The owner had also requested phone numbers of other residents and suggested they could relocate to another estate in Habaraduwa, a different division in the Galle district.

Resistance

For over 80 years and across five generations, the Malaiyaha people have lived and worked in this estate, contributing their labour to its growth while enduring systemic neglect, discrimination and exploitation. They have been denied rights to land, an adequate standard of housing and sanitation, an access road that allows motor vehicles, workers’ rights including denial of payment and statutory entitlements like EPF/ETF and education. They have also been subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment and to harassment and reprisals by owners, staff employed by owners and even police, as indicated in relation to incident involving present caretaker. Now they are facing imminent eviction.

But unlike before, they are now getting organized and ready to resist.

They have visited the local Buddhist temple and share their plight. The temple indicated they are sympathetic to the cause of the Hammeliyawatte residents and that justice must done for them. The monk at the temple said that it would be a great injustice if the people who had worked for decades would be evicted with no land or housing arranged. “Where will they go? What can they do with Rs. 200,000?” the monk asked.

Sinhalese in the village were also very sympathetic and expressed anger at the news their long time neighbours in the Hammeliyawatte will be evicted. A local women’s society said they were ready to join villagers in protest against eviction.

The community sought help and advice from human rights activists and lawyers who visited the estate, observed their living conditions and listened to their stories. They visited a Malaiyaha community in Ananthapuram (previously Bathalagoda estate) in the Kurunegala district who had waged a successful community struggle in face of eviction and were able to obtain land and housing. Most recently, a group of journalists visited the estate and talked to the residents and observed their living conditions.

Threats of imminent evictions have been brought to the notice of the Deputy Minister of Plantation and Estate Infrastructure and the Governor of the Southern Province by residents. Even before the recent threats of evictions, they had brought their situation to the notice of the prime minister and the district secretary for Galle.

The Estate Quarters (Special Provisions) Act no. 2 of 1971 provides that employees of estates who are provided quarters on the estate have a right to occupy such quarters even after the termination of employment and may not be evicted without a court order.

The nine families have written to the owner explaining their circumstances and demanding 15 perches of land with legal deeds for each family within the same estate or in the immediate vicinity and assistance to build a house. This will enable them to live with dignity where their ancestors lived and worked. Without land and housing rights, these families risk losing not only their homes but also their cultural and social roots.