524

APPENDIX I.

316. (a) The Director of Public Health, his assistants and the dis-
trict health officers should be ex-officio inspectors of plantations -
(6) As soon as a complete health service comes into being in
Assam and Bengal, the inspecting powers of Civil Surgeons should be
transferred to the officers of the Health Department. , 3 ‘.
317. (a) Boards of Health and Welfare should be established under
statute for convenient planting areas .. - we “a
(5) Each Board should have a majority of planter representa-
tives and should include a Collector or Deputy Commissioner from the
districts covered, the Director of Public Health (or one of his assistants as
deputy), the district health officer and persons nominated by the local
Government to represent workers. It is desirable that the Board should
include at least one woman member ; the Protector of Immigrants should
have the right to attend but not to vote .. .s

{¢) The ares to be allotted to each Board will depend on local
considerations, but Government should remain directly responsible for
public health in adjoining areas which are interspersed with plantations

(d) (?) Each Board should be financed by means of an annual
cess levied on all plantations within its area. The cess may be based on
the planted acreage or on the resident population, but the final decision
88 to the method to be adopted should be made after consultation be:
tween the local Governments and the industry 2 We

(#4) A rebate upto two-thirds of the cess collected should be
made to estates according to a system of marks awarded by medical
inspecting authorities for housing, medical facilities, anti-malarial work
and other amenities of which they approve ws oe

(it) Government, in consultation with the industry, should
examine the possibility of transferring the accumulated balance at the
eredit of the Assam Labour Board, less all proper expenses involved in
winding up its affairs, to the Boards of Health and Welfare in Assam ..

(¢) The chief executive officer of the Board should be a whole-
time experienced medical officer with public health qualifications ..

(f} In respect of maternity benefit legislation the Board
should be the administrative authority for the area under its control as

318. (a) The Act constituting the Boards and prescribing their
procedure should detail, as far as possible, their duties and the matters
in respect of which they may issue regulations. Before these are issued,
they should be submitted to the local Government, which should have
the power to refer them back to the Board with suggestions for their
amendment. In the case of regulations dealing with certain impor-
tant matters, such as the provision of drinking water, conservancy,
sanitation, drainage, medical facilities and the prescribing of minimum
standards of new housing accommodation, the local Government
should have the power either to approve them or to modify them in
such manner as it thinks fit. In the case of other regulations the local
Government should not have the power to modify or supersede the regu-
lations proposed by the Board 5 .. .e -

(b) Government should have the power through its inspectors
of instituting prosecutions for infringements of any regulations, but thi
power should only be invoked after the Board, without sufficient reason,
had refused to prosecute . .: .s ‘s .

{¢) Government should also retain some financial control ..

319. District health officers should act as Government inspectors
of plantations and should be empowered to deal with breaches of public
health laws and regulations on estates .

PagEs.

417

417

418

418

4110.20

420

420

421

421

121

121.2

422
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