856 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
(b) Total number of labourers so far recruited for work in mines 33,500. Present working strength 15,000.
Total expenditure incurred—Rs. 74,16,584 up to the end of January 1945.
Recoveries
Total amount billed for up to the middle of
January 1945 …………….. 14 [1] / 2 lakhs.
Actual recoveries …………… 5 lakhs.
(c) Gorakhpur labour is entitled to the following wages and amenities when serving in colliery areas:
Basic wage of 12 annas per day.
Production Bonus of 4 annas per day.
Extra allowance for working underground—4 annas per day.
In addition the labour gets free foodstuffs for a complete diet, the estimated cost of which is about 14 annas per day. They are also entitled to free housing and free medical aid.
Labour from Gorakhpur gets on the whole better terms and conditions than local labour.
Local colliery labour gets :
(i) as cash wages 50 per cent over the pre-war local rates of wages—the pre-war rates of wages were for an average worker about 8 annas in the case of surface workers and
14 annas in the case of those employed underground;
(ii) food concessions as follows:
1 / 2 seer of rice free for each day of attendance.
Adequate supply of dal at concession rate of 6 seers to the rupee. Such further supplies of rice and dal as he may require at controlled rates.
The intention of the present concession rates is to supply full ration at concession rates for the miner himself and to require him to pay controlled rates for his family. These concessions were introduced in May last, but previously the concessions extended to the worker’s family and were for rather larger quantities of grain. The