Fiery line-houses – plantation people seeking a solution

Jeeva Sathasivam

The greatest of man’s inventions is fire! That fire will bring many benefits as long as it is under his control. That can lead to many risks when the control is lost. Though it is said to be a fire accident it’s actually a fire hazard.

There have been many incidents of fires destroying everything from small huts to luxury mansions. Fire does not distinguish social status. The urban area is always at high risk where there are large apartments, slums shops, clothing stores.

Residential structures

Hill country residential structures are still found in the Line system built during the English period. It is also commonly referred to as ‘Layam’ It is also referred to as ‘lyam’ because it was set up to tie horses.

Compared to other parts of Sri Lanka, the Line housing system is unsuitable for a family to live in.

Due to the demand for detached houses, the then good-governance government during the 2015-2019 period decided to abolish the Line-housing system and to set up decent houses. In spite of many difficulties and problems, separate housing schemes were implemented in some places.

In the midst of many struggles detached houses have been handed over to some but there are thousands of houses in some areas where the foundation has been laid and the wall is half mounted. In the 150 year history will there be detached houses for all the people living in Line-houses? Will they also have the opportunity to live in separate houses before they die?

‘Attal’ is a place where firewood is stored

No matter the arrival of gas for domestic use, in areas where line-houses situated ‘firewood’ is still the fuel. Firewood is always the fuel of the poor to match their income.

The ‘attal’ (paran) a place under the ceiling of the house is used here to store firewood. There is no need to have such a place inside the house if there is another place to store firewood.

When a fire accident occurs the stored firewood also catches fire and the fire goes out of control. If alternative ways of storing firewood are provided, the risk of accidents can be minimized.

Wiring system and power consumption

The electrical connections installed in many houses of the hill stations are in an unsafe condition. The electrical connections fitted to many Line-homes have remained intact for decades, with no change. There is very little focus on this by the estate administrations or the divisional secretariats responsible for the area. In such a situation, it has become customary for the final verdict to come as an electrical leakage if any incidents occur.

Comments of affected people …

“One house is on fire and all the houses will be on fire. All this is because we live in adjoining lined houses. We will be relieved if separate houses have been built for us. What are we to do with the meager salary we get? Are we to look after ourselves, our children or to repair the burnt houses…? Even this house was built with our small savings. Why should we suffer like this? They lament with tears in their eyes. 

One student says, “Our house was on fire and the books were all burned. How do we continue education? All of our documents were burned. We do not have any documents, including a birth certificate and a bank deposit book.” This is not the experience of a single person. Thousands have been affected.

Add all the photos about fire at lions 

Pradeshiya Sabhas within the hill plantation areas

Plantation people vote in local council elections. Pradeshiya Sabhas are a major component of local councils. It is a democratically elected body of the grassroots.

Problems found in the Pradeshiya Sabhas Act No. 15 of 1987, which is in force in providing services to the “plantation area” have been removed and the Pradeshiya Sabhas was able to provide appropriate services from 2018 onwards.

When we spoke to Norwood Pradeshiya Sabha chairperson Kulantaivelu about specific incidents and how to protect people from them, he said

After providing proper electrical connections to garden dwellings in general, most residents will install the electrical connections as per their convenience and preference. Such connections are insecure. As well as the fact that most of the Line’ residential areas are prone to fires due to overuse of electrical appliances and carelessness in usage.

Although the Pradeshiya Sabhas were supposed to serve the plantation areas, it is well known that some activities came into effect only after 2018.

As such, we have not yet been provided with fire extinguishers to dows any fire. Is limited to the Municipal Council level. We are not provided with fire engines for the plantations. Therefore, it is a situation where even areas under the jurisdiction of the Pradeshiya Sabhas cannot immediately protect the people from incidents like that.

We have provided temporary relief to the affected people. At the same time, we have been in talks with the relevant estate administrations to provide them with alternative accommodation and have taken steps to acquire places and provide detached houses. We have also made arrangements to provide alternative accommodation to the victims of the recent fire in the plantation areas of Blingponi, Police and Niveli.

Plantation Human Development (Trust)

Plantation Human Development (Trust) was created in 1992 on the basis of a Cabinet decision that companies should be responsible for the welfare of the plantation population. The Trust, which has been posting pictures on its website that it has done a great deal of work for the welfare of the plantation community for the past 28 years, responded when asked about the company’s burning of lions in the plantations:

The ‘Trust’ is not an organization that has any direct responsibility for the plantation community. It acts as a liaison agency and a pressure group.

The Ministry of Health should be responsible for the health sector. The Ministry of Plantation Housing is responsible for the infrastructure. Plantation companies do the work of only linking workers with ministries.

So far, the Lions with 320 units have been burned. Apart from this, we have information from our register that 1535 units have been affected by other disasters in the last five years.

We are making short-term arrangements with the district secretariat to evacuate the victims to safer places,” the trust said passing the ball to the ministry.

Solution

A small fire incident can ruin the future of a community. This situation remains the same here. There are also families who have been affected by the fire and are still living in temporary shelters without proper housing for many years.

In the garden, there are many working families who have been temporarily sheltered in dormant tea factories and then permanently housed inside that. The suffering they face cannot be described in words. It is customary for those who witnessed or heard of the tragic situation to feel sympathy for a day or two after the incident. Similarly, those responsible politicians and officials should provide immediate relief to the victims while expressing their condolences. Simply promising to build houses in or around them is of no use.

It is a pity that the fire brigade does not have permission to operate in the upcountry. Anyhow, a large fire brigade rushed to the scene of a recent small-scale fire that broke out at the state minister’s residence in Wawandon Estate.

If you can hurry to a hotel located inside an estate, why can’t they do it when such an accident occurs in the workers’ quarters? This is a serious matter Pradeshiya Sabha must pay attention to.

Not only that the practice of giving away something or money as temporary relief to register in the minds of the bereaved families at that moment still continues in the upcountry. 

They lose their clothing, shelter, important documents, jewelry, money due to the disaster. Thereby, they lose all their savings. The plantation workers have to reconstruct the eight-foot living room with a small amount of savings they had. They neither get help from neighbors nor any foreign relief organization. Such incidents push them out of the abyss and put them into deeper abyss.

If local authorities make arrangements to keep some fire engines in at least the neighboring cities such arrangements may be a short-term solution.

Yet only the following can be recommended as a long-term solution. Preparation of a comprehensive assessment report on fires and landslides in hilly plantation areas so far. Planning on alternative action based on it. Planning and implementing the elimination of Line-Residences on a planned basis and setting up individual detached housing units. Until then this fire will continue unless solid proposals and programs are put forward by strong political demands!

தீப்பற்றிக்கொள்ளும் லயங்களும் தீர்வை நாடும் தோட்ட மக்களும்

සා ගින්නෙන් සහ ගින්දරෙන් පිළිස්සෙන- වතුකරයේ පේලි ගෙවල්