India has laid the foundation stone for 51 houses for plantation workers at Alagolla Estate in Sri Lanka’s Badulla district, deepening its flagship housing partnership with the island nation. The ceremony on September 29 was led by Assistant High Commissioner of India V S Saranya, joined by Sri Lanka’s Plantation and Community Infrastructure Minister K V Samantha Viddyarathna and Deputy Minister Pradeep Sundaralingam.

The houses form part of Phase IV of the Indian Housing Project (IHP), under which 10,000 homes are being built for Sri Lanka’s plantation community. India’s total commitment under the programme stands at 60,000 houses, the High Commission of India in Colombo said, calling it a “people-centric development partnership.”

The project has been gathering pace. On August 28, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake handed over title deeds to 165 beneficiary families covered under Phase III of the project, in a ceremony attended by Indian officials. The housing initiative, launched to support the Indian-origin Tamil plantation community, remains the centrepiece of India’s development cooperation with Sri Lanka.