Jeevan Thondaman, the Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development speaking at a media briefing in Colombo told reporters that the challenges encountered by the upcountry Tamil community should extend beyond mere daily wages. He underscored the importance of enhancing their quality of life by addressing various facets such as housing, land, education, health, and infrastructure.

During a press conference held at the Presidential Media Center under the theme “Collective path to a stable country,” Thondaman remarked on the unnecessary nature of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed by certain political parties, purportedly aimed at resolving the issues faced by the upcountry Tamil populace. He stressed that genuine solutions to these issues do not necessitate MoUs.

He emphasized that addressing the challenges encountered by the upcountry Tamil community should extend beyond mere daily wages. He underscored the importance of enhancing their quality of life by addressing various facets such as housing, land, education, health, and infrastructure.

He also refuted claims that the sole concern of Tamil plantation workers was their daily wage of Rs. 1500. “I refuse to belittle my people in such a manner.” 

He referred to plans to expand housing infrastructure in the estates adding that in 2015, the plan was to construct a total of 24,000 homes for the upcountry Tamil community, comprising 14,000 units funded through Indian assistance and 10,000 units allocated by the Sri Lankan Government. “However, by 2022, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic challenges led to the cessation of construction on these homes. By that time, only 1560 houses had been completed by the Sri Lankan Government. The initiation of a new project for 10,000 houses became possible as the prior 4,000-house project, facilitated by the Government of India, reached completion.”

Despite his allegiance to Ranil Wickremasinghe now, Thondaman was also once a Rajapaksa loyalist who contested the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP) ticket in place of his late father in 2020. Ironically enough in 2022, during a May Day rally in Kotagala, Thondaman announced that the 15-year relationship between the Thondamans and the Rajapaksa had come to an end. He blamed the soured relationship squarely on Gotabaya Rajapaksa adding that the CWC would like nothing to do with him.