The Kandy South Labour Office has launched a special programme to commence the payment of Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) contributions and gratuity payments which have remained unpaid since 2010 to the estate labour community of the Janatha Estates Development Board (JEDB) in the Kandy District.

Due to various reasons, the relevant company had failed to pay these entitlements to estate workers, country-wide. As the government has allocated Rs. 2000 million, from the previous Budget, to expedite these long-overdue payments, investigations have been fast-tracked to begin disbursing benefits to the rightful beneficiaries.

Under the supervision of the Assistant Commissioner of Labour for the Kandy District, Ms. Padma Ratnayake, a team of officers, including Senior Labour Officer of the Kandy South Labour Office, Upul Ariyaratne, has taken steps to visit the Loolkandura Estate, in Galaha, to collect information from the workers. Special investigations are currently underway in several areas of the Kandy District where the majority of JEDB estates are located, with the aim of ensuring these benefits reach the correct claimant, or their dependents, accurately.

The labour community, who dedicated their labour to the country, had been severely distressed due to the non-payment of these benefits for 16 years. Approximately 4,500 workers, who served under the said estate company, and were entitled to these benefits, had made various requests, while others had initiated legal action against the failure to pay these contributions.

By S.K. Samaranayake