132 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
working conditions and methods of coal production in some Raniganj coalfields.
The inspection began with an examination of the arrangements being made by proprietors of the Sivapur Colliery for the welfare and medical care of their miners. The party were taken round a quadrangular single-storied white hospital building containing modern X-ray equipment and other surgical apparatus. It was learnt that the hospital would start working shortly.
Later in the day, the Labour Member was taken to a Leper Welfare Centre where leprosy in its earlier stages can effectively be treated. Dr. Ambedkar also visited a small compact building accommodating a baby welfare centre where he saw frailbodied children of miners, who were being looked after by ayahs. The Labour Member expressed appreciation of these welfare efforts but asked why the children were frail and rickety. He was told that it was due to a deficiency of nutritive food.
School For Miners’ Children
Winding their way along the road to Sitapur Colliery, the party visited a primary school where workers’ children garlanded Dr. Ambedkar. The Labour Member chatted with a seven yearold boy—a miner’s son—who answered questions regarding the earnings of his family in halting but understandable English.
Earlier in the day the party inspected the Sodhpur Stowing Plant—a huge mechanical structure drawing 200 tons of sand per hour from the Damodar basin in the vicinity and conveyed to the mines by automatic ropeways.
The party also inspected underground conditions of work in Sitapur colliery. They descended about 1,000 feet and saw coal being raised by up-to-date coal-cutting machinery.
On the way back to Dhanbad the Labour Member visited the “dhowras” (one-room tenements) in the Workers’ colony at the Begunia collieries. The rooms were dark and, in one case, a calf, lazily chewing dry grass, was seen in the small verandah-sharing with the inmates their scanty accommodation. Dr. Ambedkar chatted with the inmates. It was learnt that workers get coal free of charge in sufficient