BOMBAY: The standard of house rent in Bombay city is higher than in any other city including London. This was revealed by the leader of the Congress Party in the Bombay Municipal Corporation during a debate today [July 19] on the question of rents in the city. The Corporation passed a resolution viewing with concern the move on the part of landlords to obtain permission from Government to increase rents of premises which are presently controlled by the Bombay Rent Restriction Act of 1939, and expressed the opinion that there was no justification for lifting the restrictions on rent increase.

Mr. S.C. Joshi, President of the Bombay Tenants Association, said that since the war the population had increased to 20 lakhs, while there was no increase at all in accommodation, housing activity being at a standstill. The landlords were now trying to take advantage of the situation. The Government was considering whether a percentage increase in the standard of rent was justifiable in view of the general increase in the cost of building.

[Meanwhile, as reported from New Delhi,] weak and under-developed trainees under the Technical Training Scheme are to be “built up” with a daily dose of Shark Liver Oil. There are at present about 4,000 civil trainees who are below the normal physical standard. — Dawn Delhi

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2018