Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XV. - Housing of the industrial worker

Collection:: Economics Books

278 CHAPTER XV. a higher standard of living. Two hundred acres of land at Indora have Leen leased from Government, and on this site the Company proposes to spend Rs. 25 lakhs in developing a model town of 1,500 detached houses in a sanitary, clean and airy environment. The town will consist of both kachcha and pucca houses, the latter being built by the Company and the former by the workpeople themselves in accordance with approved de- signs. At the time of our visit 108 houses had been erected, 42 by the Company and the remainder by workers. Each building plot measures 36 feet by 53 feet, but only one-third of this area may be built upon. Every house has a latrine and a water-tap, and the village has its own water main and an activated sludge plant. The Company’s houses cost Rs. 960 and are sold to the workers for Rs. 840 on a monthly instal- ment system, the rate of interest varying from three to six per cent, according to the regularity or irregularity of the payment of instalments. Kachcha houses cost from Rs. 300 and advances made for their cons: truction are paid back in monthly instalments over a period of 5 to 7 years. The lay-out includes sites for play-grounds, market places, public gardens, a central hospital, a workers’ institute and residences for welfare secre- taries, whilst a primary school has already been opened. Although the scheme is still in ifs infancy, it was obvious to us that the workers had already developed a pride of possession and an increased self-respect ; the cultivation of flowers, the planting of trees and individually distinctive decorative schemes were all evidences of a new outlook on home life among the residents. Karachi and Ajmer. The same tale of squalor could be told of other towns and in- dustrial centres ; but evidence of neglect and lack of supervision was nowhere more obvious than in Karachi and Ajmer. In the former city the Port Trust has provided 816 houses of different types at Manora and Keamari, but the majority of its employees live in the city where housing is both bad and expensive. Few of the industrial employers have provided any quarters, although some supply materials and leave the workers to build huts for themselves. The municipality has constructed satisfactory quarters for a number of its employees and the Chairman informed us that the question of inducing employers to acquire sites on which to build houses for their workers had been taken up and negotiations were on hand. The problem is urgent, for congestion is very severe and sub-letting is a prevailing evil. In Ajmer the bulk of the workers live in privately rented guarters in the town and, owing to the great shortage of accommodation, overcrowding is intense, whilst sanitation is deplorably bad. The houses built by the Krishna Mills in Beawar are mostly of corrugated iron and lack both ventilation and sanitation, but the houses erected by the Edward Mills are of a somewhat higher standard. The Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway has built quarters for some of its workshop employees, and these are on the whole satisfactory in regard to drainage, water supply and sanitation, but no houses are provided for the lower grades of workers, and these are compelled to look for accom- modation in the city, where they enhance the existing overcrowding,

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