Media team visit to Hemmeliya Estate with VOPP

 ගාල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ බද්දේගම ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශට අයත් හැම්මෑලිය වලේගොඩ පුද්ගලික වත්තේ ජීවත්වන මලෛයහම් ජනතාව වසර 80ට වැඩි කාලයක් හා පරම්පරා 5ක් මෙහි ජීවත්වී ඇති අතර වර්තමානයේ පවුල් 09 ට අයත් සාමාජික සාමාජිකාවන් ජීවත්වේ. මෙම වත්තේ හිමිකාර කාන්තාව මේ පවුල්වල අයට මෙයින් මාස තුනක් ඇතුලත ඉවත්වන ලෙස නියෝග කල කාලය අද වන විට අවසන්වේ. මේ පිළිබඳව මම ඔබට මුහුණු පොත හරහා ඔබව දැනුවත්ව කල අතර වසරකට වැඩි කාලයක් වතුකරයේ ජනතා හඬ සංවිධානය ලෙස අප ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන වැඩ පිලිබදවත් ඔබව දැනුවත් කලා. එයින් තවත් අධියරයක් ලෙස ඊයේ දිනයේ (2025. 10. 12) මාධ්‍යය කණ්ඩායමක් හැම්මෑලිය වත්තට රැගෙන ගිය අතර මාධ්‍යය හරහා එම ජනතාවගේ ගැටලු ප්‍රචාරය කිරීමට උත්සහ කළෙමු. මාධ්‍යකරුවන් උනන්දුවෙන් එම ජනතාවගේ ගැටලු සොයා බැලීමක් කලා. එබැවින් අප සමග සම්බන්ධ වූ සියලුම මාධ්‍යය සොයුර සොයුරියන්ට අපගේ ස්තූතිය. එසේම මෙය සදහා මූල්‍යම දායකත්වය ලබාදුන් PARL ජාලයේ මාලිංග සහ සදුන් යන මහත්වරුන් ඇතුලු සියලුම දෙනාට අපගේ ස්තූතිය.

காலி மாவட்டத்தின் பத்தேகம பிரதேச செயலகப் பிரிவில் உள்ள ஹம்மெலிய விலேகொட தனியார் தோட்டத்தில் வசிக்கும் மலையக மக்கள் 80 ஆண்டுகளுக்கும் மேலாகவும் 5 தலைமுறைகளாகவும் இங்கு வசித்து வருகின்றனர், தற்போது 09 குடும்பங்கள் இங்கு வசித்து வருகின்றனர். இந்த தோட்டத்தின் உரிமையாளர் இந்த குடும்பங்களை மூன்று மாதங்களுக்குள் காலி செய்து வெளியேறுமாறு உத்தரவிட்ட காலம் இன்றுடன் முடிவடைந்துள்ளது. இதைப் பற்றி நான் பேஸ்புக்(முகநூலில்) மூலம் உங்களுக்குத் பலமுறை தெரிவித்தேன், மேலும் ஒரு வருடத்திற்கும் மேலாக பெருந்தோட்டத்துறை மக்கள் குரல் அமைப்பாக நாங்கள் செயல்படுத்தி வரும் பணிகள் குறித்தும் உங்களுக்குத் தெரிவித்தேன். எமது செயற்பாடுகளின் மற்றொரு படியாக, நேற்று (2025. 10. 12)ஹெம்மெலிய தோட்டத்திற்கு ஒரு ஊடகக் குழுவை அழைத்துச் சென்ற அந்த மக்களின் பிரச்சினைகளை ஊடகங்கள் மூலம் விளம்பரப்படுத்த முயற்சித்தோம். ஊடகவியலாளர்கள் அந்த மக்களின் பிரச்சினைகளை விடாமுயற்சியுடன் ஆராய்ந்தனர். எனவே, எங்களோடு இணைந்துக்கொண்ட அனைத்து ஊடக சகோதர சகோதரிகளுக்கும் எங்கள் நன்றி. இதற்கு நிதி உதவி வழங்கிய PARL வலையமைப்பின் திரு. மாலிங்கா மற்றும் திரு. சதுன் உட்பட அனைவருக்கும் நாங்கள் நன்றி கூறுகிறோம்.

The Malaiyaha community living in Hemmeliya Wilegoda Estate, under the Badddegama Divisional Secretariat in the Galle District, has been residing on this land for over 80 years—spanning five generations. Today, only 9 families (25 members including children) continue to live there.

Recently, the estate owner ordered these families to vacate the land within three months, and that period has now expired.

For more than a year, the Voice of the Plantation People Organization (VOPP) has been continuously working to protect the fundamental rights of these families. During the past few months, VOPP has taken various actions to advocate for permanent land rights for them, including presenting the issue to government authorities, such as the Governor of the Southern Province and other officials.

As part of these efforts, on 12th October 2025, VOPP organized a media visit to Hemmeliya Estate to raise public awareness of the community’s challenges. Journalists and media representatives actively engaged with the residents and observed their difficult living conditions firsthand.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to all media colleagues who joined the media visit.

We also express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Malinga, Mr. Sadun, and all members of the PARL Network for their financial support, which made this intervention possible.

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