DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24890#0105
( 95 )
More than a bare subsistence wage elsewhere, found in the
relief works no attraction. It was only when a whole family
came and worked together that a fraction over the bare sub-
sistence wage could be earned by the group.
Whilst every endeavour was made to select for execu-
tion only works of a permanent character and of distinct
public utility, those works or portions of works which could
not be carried out by relief labour were deliberately left
undone. For instance, where unmetalled roads were made—
and they were the class of work which were most generally
carried out—no bridges were built. In order to render these
roads completely useful, bridges will, no doubt, be necessary;
but the Lieutenant-Governor declined to permit funds
provided by the Imperial Government for famine relief
to be expended on work for skilled labourers, who were not
distressed and who could find their ordinary employment
elsewhere. The works carried out are therefore less complete
than they would have been had the principle restricting
employment to persons really distressed been less scrupulously
followed. But so well has the work been done that in res-
ponse to inquiries made recently as to the sum necessary to
repair the damages caused by the late heavy rains to these
famine roads, estimates for no more than Bs. 130,488 have
been sanctioned. This gives an average of something more
than Bs. 39 a mile. In order that the famine roads may be
permanently useful, they must be bridged, and estimates for
bridges are now being prepared. The bridges will be con-
structed from provincial or district funds.
The works carried out, with the exception of some
canal works, were mostly roads, tanks, and wells with a few
miscellaneous works. The great Sarda Canal project, which
was first suggested as the backbone of relief work in
Oudh, was after careful inquiry both in the office and in the
field not undertaken. It was found that this great project called
for more mature consideration than could, in the throes of the
present emergency, be given to it. It seemed to involve engi-
neering difficulties as well as a danger of waterlogging the
country, in which the water level was found by extensive
experiments to be much nearer the surface than had been
supposed. Moreover, the opposition of the landholders and
the vast expenditure the work would necessitate rendered it
impossible to undertake it as a famine measure without delay
or further consideration.
The only railways on which work was executed were
the extension of the Oudh and Bohilkhand and the Bengal and
North-Western Bailways, which had been in progress before
the famine set in. The reasons why no fresh railway projects
were undertaken were these. As stated in Article 18 of th e
More than a bare subsistence wage elsewhere, found in the
relief works no attraction. It was only when a whole family
came and worked together that a fraction over the bare sub-
sistence wage could be earned by the group.
Whilst every endeavour was made to select for execu-
tion only works of a permanent character and of distinct
public utility, those works or portions of works which could
not be carried out by relief labour were deliberately left
undone. For instance, where unmetalled roads were made—
and they were the class of work which were most generally
carried out—no bridges were built. In order to render these
roads completely useful, bridges will, no doubt, be necessary;
but the Lieutenant-Governor declined to permit funds
provided by the Imperial Government for famine relief
to be expended on work for skilled labourers, who were not
distressed and who could find their ordinary employment
elsewhere. The works carried out are therefore less complete
than they would have been had the principle restricting
employment to persons really distressed been less scrupulously
followed. But so well has the work been done that in res-
ponse to inquiries made recently as to the sum necessary to
repair the damages caused by the late heavy rains to these
famine roads, estimates for no more than Bs. 130,488 have
been sanctioned. This gives an average of something more
than Bs. 39 a mile. In order that the famine roads may be
permanently useful, they must be bridged, and estimates for
bridges are now being prepared. The bridges will be con-
structed from provincial or district funds.
The works carried out, with the exception of some
canal works, were mostly roads, tanks, and wells with a few
miscellaneous works. The great Sarda Canal project, which
was first suggested as the backbone of relief work in
Oudh, was after careful inquiry both in the office and in the
field not undertaken. It was found that this great project called
for more mature consideration than could, in the throes of the
present emergency, be given to it. It seemed to involve engi-
neering difficulties as well as a danger of waterlogging the
country, in which the water level was found by extensive
experiments to be much nearer the surface than had been
supposed. Moreover, the opposition of the landholders and
the vast expenditure the work would necessitate rendered it
impossible to undertake it as a famine measure without delay
or further consideration.
The only railways on which work was executed were
the extension of the Oudh and Bohilkhand and the Bengal and
North-Western Bailways, which had been in progress before
the famine set in. The reasons why no fresh railway projects
were undertaken were these. As stated in Article 18 of th e