Wayanad landslide: Elstone Plantation to get ₹24 crore for labourers’ settlement

Kalpetta: The Elstone Estate group, whose 64.47 hectares were taken over by the state government for rehabilitating survivors of the Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslide, will receive ₹24 crore to settle arrears and emergency benefits of its workers, the district administration said in a press release on Saturday.

As per the High Court order, the plantation must disburse all dues and benefits to labourers within five days of the amount being credited to its account. Nearly 300 estate workers have been demanding arrears of salary, pension, provident fund and other service benefits totalling around ₹11 crore.

The ₹24 crore was sanctioned from the ₹26.5 crore that the government had remitted to the High Court treasury. Deputy Labour Commissioner K M Sunilkumar, who attended a meeting of workers’ representatives and trade union leaders, warned that if there was any delay, the government could initiate revenue recovery and other penal measures against the plantation.

Regarding cases at the Labour Court over non-payment of gratuity, where revenue recovery had already been ordered, the dues must be cleared on the first day itself. If not, the District Collector can directly debit the plantation’s account and credit the money to the labourers. Repeated failures would attract recovery proceedings and bank account attachment.

Provident fund benefits will be credited to workers’ accounts within 20 days of verification, the release said.

Earlier, the plantation group had moved the High Court demanding ₹549 crore as compensation for the land acquisition. The plea remains pending.