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Massive household survey underway in Telangana

Hyderabad:  In what is billed as the first exercise of its kind anywhere in the country, an intensive household survey is underway across Telangana state Tuesday to know social and economic status of nearly four crore people in a single day.

Nearly four lakh government employees are covering about one crore households in all 10 districts of the state including Hyderabad. Brushing aside the criticism by opposition and allegations that it is aimed at singling out people from Andhra Pradesh living in Hyderabad, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) embarked on the massive exercise to collect data. 

The government clarified that by collecting the information it wants to identify real beneficiaries of the welfare schemes and to weed out the bogus ones. The survey began at 7 a.m. across the state with enumerators going door-to-door to gather information like names, age, educational qualification, profession, Adhar card numbers, bank account number, property and other details of the family members. 

The exercise will continue till 7 p.m. In Hyderabad, the survey is expected to continue till 8 p.m. As many as 75,000 government employees are gathering data of 20 lakh families in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

Contrary to speculations in some circles that the survey is aimed at targeting people from Andhra Pradesh living in Hyderabad, the survey form has no nativity column. Even declaring bank account number is optional. Normal life came to a complete halt across Telangana as the government declared a holiday to enable people to remain at home and participate in the survey. 

Shops, petrol bunks, hotels, cinema halls, business establishments, companies, factories and educational institutions remained shut. All buses of state owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) buses went off the roads. The government has warned shops and business establishments violating the orders and has also ensured that not a single RTC plies.

Thousands of people from various parts of the country reached their home towns and villages for the survey. Families residing in Hyderabad but having their records registered in districts also headed for their native places to participate in the survey. Irrigation Minister Harish Rao, who participated in the survey, said despite misinformation spread by the vested interests and opposition parties, the survey was a huge success with people voluntarily coming forward to participate in it.

"The government wants to know if there are families who need benefits like ration card, housing and pension. The database will help us to plan better and ensure that the benefits of the schemes reach the deserving," he said. The TRS government said lack of credible data was a major hurdle in planning and implementation of welfare scheme as total number of ration cards exceed the number of households.

It alleged that huge irregularities were committed in the past in implantation of schemes like housing for poor, reimbursement of fee of poor students, free healthcare and social pensions. Despite criticism, it went ahead with the survey in a single day to ensure that there is no duplication and bogus beneficiaries are removed.

With inputs from IANS

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