Plantation to be taken over if wages not increased

21 December 2015 10:55 am

The government today warned that regional plantation companies, which refuse to increase the wages of their workers, would be taken over by the State, Minister Lakshman Kiriella said this at the District Coordination Committee meeting.

He said these companies were concealing their profits from the State and was nothing but a ruse to justify their decisions not to increase wages.
The minister said these companies were managing estates each 20,000 hectares in extent.

"Even when plantations were managed by the Europeans, it was only about 5000 hectares each. Now it is 20,000 hectares. These estates will be taken over if the wages are not increased in compliance with the government policy," he said. (Kelum Bandara)