Taxpayers foot the bill as estate owners pocket profits

Professor Priyanga Dunusinghe of the University of Colombo’s Department of Economics says that the government’s proposal to provide estate workers with a daily Rs. 200 incentive could create a challenging and unsustainable situation.

He noted that once this payment is introduced, it would have to be continued indefinitely, with potential increases in the future, placing an additional burden on the government.

Prof. Dunusinghe also warned that providing such subsidies to a workforce employed in the private sector sets a poor precedent and could easily extend to other sectors.

Highlighting concerns over public finances, he questioned why taxpayers’ money would be used to pay wages for estate workers even when plantation owners already derive full profits from their estates.