Representatives of the Malaiyaha Tamil community have strongly questioned the failure of the current government to fulfil promises made to secure land rights for hill country Tamils, even one and a half years after coming to power.
Speaking at the Malaiyaha Right to Life Conference (Malayaka Vazhuvumiraima Manadu) held at the Sitthivinagyar Cultural Hall in Kotagala on March 7, 2026, Tamil Progressive Organization and Democratic People’s Front leader, MP Mano Ganesan, said assurances given to the Malaya people through the Hatton Declaration remain unimplemented.
Ganesan recalled that while in opposition, the leader of the National People’s Power (NPP), Anura Kumara Dissanayake, pledged in the Hatton Declaration to distribute uncultivated land in the hill country to youth from the Malaiyaha Tamil community.
“They said all uncultivated land in the hills would be given to hill country youth. Has land been given anywhere? The promise was made, but it has not been kept,” he said.
The Hatton Declaration titled “200 Malaiyahagam for the Motherland – A Respectable Citizen” was launched by the NPP on October 15, 2023, at the DKW Hall in Hatton. The Sinhala version of the declaration was signed by senior NPP leaders, including Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The declaration identified housing as one of the most pressing issues facing the hill country Tamil community, noting that 67.8 per cent of the community continued to live in line rooms, according to the 2012/2013 Census and Statistics Report. It pledged that an NPP government would introduce housing schemes to ensure dignified living conditions and secure land tenure.
The document further promised to protect estate workers from forced evictions, resolve the long‑standing issue of the lack of land deeds, and utilise uncultivated and abandoned plantation lands to improve the livelihoods of unemployed hill country Tamil youth.
Addressing the conference, Workers’ National Front leader and MP Palani Digambaran, a key ally of the Tamil Progressive Organization, said the President now questions the availability of land when requests are made.
“People must understand that this government will not give land. When we ask the President, he asks where the land is. We say the hills are full of land—give it to the people,” he said.
Malaiyaha People’s Front leader and MP Velusamy Radhakrishnan highlighted institutional disputes as a major obstacle to resolving the land issue. He said ownership of estate lands continues to shift between the Janatha Estates Development Board (JEDB) and the Land Reforms Commission (LRC), with even the courts yet to deliver a final ruling.
“At the very least, give us the seven perches we negotiated earlier. We don’t need houses—just the land. We can build ourselves. But where is the land? The JEDB says it belongs to the LRC, and the LRC says it belongs to the JEDB. So when will the people receive land?” he asked.
Radhakrishnan urged the President to appoint a special task force to resolve the long‑standing land ownership issue affecting the hill country Tamil community.
“A task force is formed for everything. Why not form one to finally solve this land issue?” he said.
A large gathering, including members of all three parties in the political alliance, attended the conference organised by the Tamil Progressive Organization, provincial correspondents reported.
(Edited and translated version of news story published by The Leader)