evidence: ‘Estate workers to be paid Rs.1,000 from March 1’ Responding to a question posed by JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake on whether the estate workers would be paid Rs.1,000 from March 1 as declared by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the plantation companies had agreed to pay the increased wage. [...] "Estate sector workers will get Rs.1,000 from March 1. The companies have agreed and they will pay," the Prime Minister said.