Since learning six months ago about attempts by the estate owners to evict the Malaiyaha Tamil families living in the Hemmeliya Private Estate, located in the Baddegama Divisional Secretariat Division of the Galle District, the Voice of the Plantation People Organization (VOPP) has been actively taking various measures to address the issue.
Last month, the daughter of the estate owner visited the estate and issued an order for the residents to vacate the premises within three months. In response, VOPP has been working with multiple stakeholders and has raised the matter with several government authorities, including the Galle District Secretary and the Governor of the Southern Province.
On 3rd August 2025, a VOPP team consisting of Anthony Jesudasan (Executive Director), Lavina Hasanthi (Program Director), and Franzis Rajan (National Program Officer) visited the Hemmeliya Estate. During the visit, the team held a special discussion with the residents to plan future actions, collected necessary information and documents, and also met with the Assistant Thero of the Hemmeliya Temple. It was especially encouraging that several Sinhala brothers from the surrounding village participated in the discussion, showing solidarity and promising their continued support to the Malaiyaha families.
VOPP reaffirms its commitment to standing with the affected families until their rights and dignity are fully protected.
ගාල්ල දිස්ත්රික්කයේ, බද්දේගම ප්රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශට අයත් හැම්මෑලිය පුද්ගලික වතුයායේ වසර 100ට ආසන්න කාලයක් ජීවත්වන මලෛයහම් දෙමල ජනතාව( පවුල් 9ක් – 25 දෙනෙක්) එම වත්තෙන් ඉවත්කිරීම සදහා වතු අයිතිකරුවන් ගන්නාවූ උත්සහය පිලිබදව මාස 6 ට පෙර අප දැනගත්තු අවස්ථාවේ සිට වතුකරයේ ජනතා හඬ සංවිධානය හැටියට විවිධ ක්රියාමාර්ග ගනිමින් සිටියදි පසුගිය මස වත්තට පැමිණි වතු අයිතිකරුගේ දියණිය ඉහත සදහන් වත්තේ ජීවත්වන මලෛයහම් දෙමල ජනතාව මාස තුනක් ඇතුළත ඉවත්වන ලෙස නියෝග කර තිබේ. එබැවින් එය පිලිබදව විවිධ පාර්ශව සමග කටයුතු කරන අතර ගාල්ල දිස්ත්රික් ලේකම්තුමා, දකුණු පලාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරතුමා ඇතුලු බොහො රජයේ නිලධාරින් දැනුවත් කර ඇත. එසේම ඉදිරිය පිලිබදව සැලසුම් කිරීම සදහා හා තොරතුරු ඒකරාශි කිරීම සදහා අද දින විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාවක් පැවත්වුයෙමු. එසේම හැම්මෑලිය විහාරස්ථානයේ පොඩිනම හමුවී සාකච්ජා කලෙමු. මෙම විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාව සදහා ගමේ සිංහල සහෝදරයන් කිහිප දෙනෙක් සහභාගිවීම ඉතා වටිනා දෙයක්වේ.
காலி மாவட்டத்தின் பத்தேகம பிரதேச செயலகப் பிரிவில் உள்ள ஹெம்மெலிய தனியார் தோட்டத்தில் சுமார் 100 வருடங்கள் வசித்து வருகின்ற மலையக தமிழ் மக்களை (9 குடும்பங்களைச் சேர்ந்த 25 பேர்) வெளியேற்ற தோட்ட உரிமையாளர்கள் 6 மாதங்களுக்கு முன்பு தொடக்கம் முயற்சிப்பது குறித்து அறிந்துக்கொண்ட பெருந்தோட்டத்துறை மக்கள் குரல் அமைப்பாகிய நாங்கள் பல்வேறு நடவடிக்கைகளை எடுத்து வரும் நிலையில், கடந்த மாதம் தோட்டத்திற்குச் சென்ற தோட்ட உரிமையாளரின் மகள் மேற்கூறிய தோட்டத்தில் வசிக்கும் மலையக தமிழ் மக்களை மூன்று மாதங்களுக்குள் அங்கிருந்து வெளியேற வேண்டுமென உத்தரவிட்டுள்ளார். எனவே, இது தொடர்பாக பல்வேறு தரப்பினருடன் இணைந்து பணியாற்றி வருகிறோம், மேலும் காலி மாவட்ட அரசாங்க அதிபர், தென் மாகாண ஆளுநர் உட்பட பல அரச அதிகாரிகளுக்கு தகவல் தெரிவித்துள்ளோம். தொடர்ந்து எதிர்கால செயற்பாடுகளை திட்டமிடவும், தகவல்களைச் சேகரிக்கவும் இன்று ஒரு முக்கிய கலந்துரையாடலை நடத்தினோம். அதேநேரம் ஹெம்மெலிய விகாரையின் உதவி பிக்குவையும் சந்தித்து கலந்துரையாடினோம். இந்த முக்கிய கலந்துரையாடலில் கிராமத்தைச் சேர்ந்த பல சிங்கள சகோதரர்கள் பங்கேற்றது மிகவும் பாராட்டப்பட வேண்டிய விடயமாகும்.
