CENTRAL PROVINCES ADMINISTRATION.
General department.
No. 5809-A.
Nagpur, the 15th May 1906.
READ—
The Triennial Report and Statements of the Lunatic Asylums in the Central Provinces
for the years 1903, 1904 and 1905.
RESOLUTION.
In the last Triennial Resolution on the Lunatic Asylums of the Central
Provinces, it was decided that the project for amalgamating the two existing
asylums at Nagpur and Jubbulpore must be definitely abandoned, in view of the
unsuitability of the Nagpur buildings for such alteration as would have been
necessary in order to bring them up to modern requirements, of the heavy initial
expenditure that the construction of a new asylum would have entailed, and of the
fact that the number of its inmates would not be sufficiently large to justify
the employment of a whole-time alienist, which was an essential part of the scheme
for centralization. It was accordingly decided that the two existing asylums
should be maintained, but that, in order to relieve the overcrowding which existed
at Jubbulpore, all female lunatics should be transferred thence to Nagpur, and that
certain additions should be made to the Nagpur Asylum in order to enable this to
be done. During 1903-04 two wards to accommodate 38 patients, a block of 6
cells, and quarters for a matron were accordingly erected ; but at the end of 1904
further enlargement was stopped, pending consideration of a scheme for the estab-
lishment at Chhindwara of a Central Asylum for the reception of European
lunatics from the various provinces of the Bengal Presidency, and for the combin-
ation therewith of an asylum for native lunatics from the Central Provinces.
After considerable discussion the proposed site at Chhindwara has been found to
present certain disadvantages for the location of a Central European Asylum, and
the project for the construction of the two Central Asylums there has therefore
been abandoned. The further extensions to the Nagpur Asylum, which were
postponed pending the settlement of the above project, should now be carried into
effect with a view to the transfer thither of the female inmates of the Jubbulpore
Asylum. Though it cannot be denied that the existing arrangements are by
no means up to the standard of modern scientific requirements, they are not
so seriously defective as to make the construction of a Central Asylum a matter
of great urgency. It will probably, however, become necessary before very long
to remove the Jubbulpore Asylum, which is most unsuitably placed, to another
site.
2. Allowing 54 square feet of superficial area per patient, the capacity of
the Nagpur Asylum is now 233 patients, and that of the Jubbulpore Asylum 143,
giving a total capacity of 376. The maximum number of inmates confined at
Nagpur on any one night during the triennium was 165, so that the capacity of
the asylum was never overtaxed. At Jubbulpore, on the other hand, there was
overcrowding throughout the period, the average population for 1905 being 144.35,
while the maximum number of inmates on any night was 160 in 1903, 158 in 1904
and 153 in 1905. The transfer of female inmates to Nagpur will give relief in this
respect, and the Inspector-General should consider whether any further alterations
are so urgently necessary that they should be carried out at once notwithstanding
the probability that the construction of a new asylum on a different site will
eventually be required.