CBSE Class 10 Answered

Majority of the mill workers of Bombay resided in the chawls built in the neighbourhood called ‘Girangaon’. Chawls were multi-storeyed structures which had been built from at least the 1860’s in the ‘native’ parts of the town. Like the tenements in the city of London, these houses were most of the times owned by private landlords, such as merchants, bankers and building contractors. Such professionals often bought chawls in order to earn some quick money from anxious migrants who did not have any place to stay in Bombay. These chawls often had one room tenements and had common toilets on every floor.