Chawls were multi-story tenement buildings in Bombay (now Mumbai) that housed many migrant workers in cramped conditions in the 19th century. Each small room in the chawl had no private toilet and residents had to share basic facilities. Due to rapid population growth and lack of planning, over 70% of Bombay's residents lived in chawls by the mid-1800s, with up to 20 people sharing single homes compared to 8 people per home in London. While chawls provided low-cost housing, living conditions were difficult due to lack of water, sanitation, and space for daily activities. Various land reclamation projects and policies attempted to address the housing crisis in Bombay by

1. BOMBAY CHAWLS
Name: Narayanan.S
Class: X A

2. What are Chawls ?
 Chawls were multi-storeyed structures which
had been built at from at least the 1860s in
the native parts of the town.
 These can be compared to the tenements in
London.
 These houses were largely owned by private
landlords such as merchants, bankers, and
building contractors, looking for quick ways of
earning money from anxious migrants.
 Each chawl was divided into smaller one-room
tenements which had no private toilets.

4. Scenario In Bombay
 Bombay was a crowded city. While every Londoner
enjoyed a space of 155 sq. Yards, Citizens of
Bombay had a mere 9.5 sq. Yards. When London
had an average 8 people per house, Bombay had
an unimaginable 20 !
 With the rapid and unplanned expansion of the city,
the crises of housing and water supply became
acute by the mid-1850s.
 In contrast, more than 70% of the living people
lived in the thickly populated Chawls of Bombay.
 This was mainly because of the fact that workers
had to share homes with their fellow mates who are
of some relation to them.

6. Life In a Bombay Chawl
 In a chawl, people had to keep the windows closed
even during humid weather due to filthy gutters,
privies and buffalo stables.
 There was scarcity of water in these regions as
water supply was not given importance in these
areas. As a result, people often fought for water
from nearby taps, which kept their houses clean.
 The homes were very small and hence streets and
neighbourhoods were used for basic activities
such as cooking, washing and sleeping.
 Liquor shops and Akharas came up in in empty
spots near the chawls. Also, chawls were also the
place for exchange of news, riots, or
demonstrations.

8. Leadership in the Chawls
 Castes and family groups in the mills
neighbourhood were headed by someone who
was similar to a village headman.
 Sometimes the jobber in the mills could be the
local neighbourhood leader.
 Either of them settled disputes, organised food
supplies, or arranged informal credit. He also
bought important information on political
development.

10. Solution of Housing
 The City Of Bombay Improvement Trust was
established in 1898 which focused on clearing
poorer homes out of the city centre.
 By 1918, Trust schemes had deprived 64,00
people of their homes, but only 14,000 were
rehoused.
 In the same year, a Rent act was passed to keep
rents reasonable, but it had the opposite effect of
producing a severe housing crisis, since landlords
withdrew houses, as a concern for low rents.
 But one way by which locals and migrants were
accommodated, was by the land reclamation
project in Bombay.

12. The Land Reclamation
Project
 A new way was found to counter the problem of the
rise in number of chawls.
 The earliest project began in 1784, when Governor
William Hornby approved the building of low-lying sea
walls for prevention of floods from entering the
outskirts of the city.
 In 1864, the Back Bay Reclamation company won the
right to reclaim the western foreshore from Malabar to
end of Colaba.
 Another reclamation project was taken up when the
Bombay Port trust built a dry dock and excavated the
earth to build a 22-acre Ballard estate. Subsequently
the Marine Drive of Bombay was developed
 The projects were a huge success when the city had