Tamil Nadu: Manjolai laborers seek land and a house from the incoming MP as the tea plantation lease comes to an end

Manjolai tea estate workers, who will soon be forced to leave the hills due to the 99-year lease period of the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd (BBTCL) ending in 2028, demanded on Thursday that the candidate elected to represent them in the Lok Sabha take action to give them free patta lands and houses in the plains under state or federal government schemes. The polls are almost here.

Women estate workers informed TNIE that because the BBTCL has already started settlement negotiations, this election may be their last on the Manjolai Hills, claiming that they may lose their entire means of support following removal. “Despite the fact that we live in these mountainous hamlets (Manjolai, Kakkachi, Naalumukku, and Oothu) and have over 2,000 voters among us, neither candidates nor their supporters have made the effort to come here as part of their parliamentary election campaigns. We demand guarantees that, in the event that we are forced to leave, the candidates for the Congress, AIADMK, BJP, and NTK would provide us free patta lands and homes on the plains,” they said.

The employees claim that BBTCL has agreed to pay a settlement sum of between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5.5 lakh to those who want to participate in the voluntary retirement plan. But with this money, we won’t be able to build homes on the plains or purchase property. Therefore, G Manohar, an estate worker, felt that the state government had to assist us in obtaining a higher settlement sum from the corporation.

Manohar said, “The sitting MP, S Gnanathiraviam, had visited a church in Manjolai only once in the last five years,” alleging that the MPs elected from the Tirunelveli seat had not made enough trips to the hills to address their requests. Many of us were thus deprived of the opportunity to communicate our requests to him. The majority of the ladies in this area do not even get the Rs 1,000 in monthly cash aid.

Manjolai native Vimal Kumar requested the state government to assume control of the tea plantation upon BMTCL’s 99-year lease expiration and go on providing jobs for people.

District Election Officer/Collector KP Karthikeyan promised the state government that it will take care of all the issues brought up by the Manjolai workers when TNIE called him. “To ensure the welfare of the workers, a special committee led by the collector is in place. Its workings will be discussed following the polls,” he said. The body is made up of representatives from the revenue and forest departments.