The problems faced by migrated people in Bombay in the mid nineteenth century were as follows.
Housing: They were forced to live in cheap and unsafe multistoreyed structures called chawls. More than 70 per cent migrants lived in these thickly-populated chawls. They were overcrowded with no toilets and privacy.
Shortage of water and other basic amenities: Water was scarce, which led to daily quarrels at the tap. People had to use streets and neighbourhood for cooking, washing and sleeping.
Caste discrimination: Depressed classes faced difficulties in finding house. They were kept out of chawls and had to live in shelters made of sheets, leaves or bamboo poles.
Fear of spread of diseases: Being overcrowded and built in an unplanned way, there was a constant danger of spread of epidemic diseases like plague and other communicable diseases in chawls.
