Survey hits normal life in Telangana

Shops & other establishments closed, roads deserted

Hyderabad: The much-publicised intensive house-hold survey in Telangana was marred by shortcomings, criticism, protests and resistance by the people at some places.

It hit normal life in the State as shops and other establishments remained closed for most part of the day. They were opened in the evening. Roads presented a deserted look. Transport was paralysed. Private transporters made a killing.

For the prestigious project taken up by the State government, initially, each enumerator was allotted 25 houses; but in urban areas, the number went up to 40 and more, burdening the field staff.

In fact, the number of enumerators was adjusted according to earlier estimates of houses. In the case of many apartment complexes with a single house number one enumerator had to survey several flats instead of a single house. In some places, volunteers were used extensively due to staff shortage.

Enumerators in Raghunathapally of Warangal district refused to take up the additional burden. They were disappointed as adequate survey forms were not available. Work was delayed in Dornakal as the survey forms were dispatched late. It was also delayed in Ghanpur mandal as the material was received late.

Villagers in Pinapaka of Khammam district stalled the process, as enumerators declined to survey those houses which did not have stickers. Villagers protested the attitude of officers.

Confusion prevailed at Ashwaraopet, as people staged a protest at the tahsildar office alleging that no stickers were stuck to their houses. The Singareni area of Adilabad district declared bundh to support the survey. As many as 28,000 tonnes of coal production was affected.

Karimnagar: Intensive household survey in the district has concluded peacefully on Tuesday barring a few stray incidents. Survey began by 8 am in almost all villages, towns and municipalities. However, enumerators were unable to reach some villages on time due to lack of proper transport facilities.

In Sircilla town, residents of Sanjeevaiah colony demanded that officials should record details of their debts along with assets. Bowing to their pressure, officials have instructed enumerators to register details of debts in household survey forms. In Jagtial town, people living in huts have staged protest as enumerators did not record their details.

Villagers of Kashapalli in Sultanabad mandal have obstructed enumerators from carrying out their duties. They told enumerators to take up survey in their village after distributing lands to landless poor. They expressed anger over officials and staged protest against the state government. Tahsildar Rajitha arrived in the village and pacified protesting villagers. Enumerators resumed the survey after the villagers withdrew their protest.

People’s representatives including MPs and MLAs have registered their details with enumerators, who conducted a house-to-house survey. Karimnagar MP B Vinod Kumar and MLA Gangula Kamalakar have submitted their details to enumerators in Karimnagar city.

Vinod Kumar said that people were extending their cooperation to the household survey. Coal production at Singareni Collieries came to a halt as workers were on leave to participate in the survey. Officials of the Singareni Collieries said around 30,000 tonnes of coal production was stopped. As per the district officials, 43,000 enumerators have recorded the details of 11,80,000 households across the district.

Adilabad: The comprehensive household survey taken up on Tuesday was a grand success in the district. About 90 percent of people of the district were covered under the survey by 7 pm. Officials have drafted around 35,000 persons for the survey work as they estimated that there were more number of households in the district than those indicated by the official records. It is for the first time that such a massive survey was conducted in the district on a single day.

A call centre was set up at the Collectorate to clear doubts of people. Special officer Dr Ashok, Collector M Jagan Mohan and SP Gajarao Bhupal have supervised the survey and ensured its smooth conduct.

Khammam: The intensive household survey concluded in the district on Tuesday. The district authorities ensured that all the households were covered under the survey.

District Collector Dr K Ilambarithi received complaints from the people of Dammapeta, Sathupally and Pinapaka mandals and also from people of some wards under the limits of the Khammam Municipal Corporation over non-pasting of survey stickers at their homes. He immediately spoke to the concerned Tahsildars, special officers and ensured that the people residing in different places were covered under the household survey.

More than ninety per cent people across the district have participated in survey by 4 pm. Ilambarithi made a surprise visit to the Tahsildar office at Konijerla mandal and inquired about the progress of the survey.

Warangal: Amid lots of ifs and buts that surrounded the state government’s prestigious ‘integrated household survey,’ the programme was conducted in a successful manner in the district on Tuesday albeit with some minor difficulties.

The survey which was scheduled to commence at 8 am, started with a slight delay at many places in view of a few lapses in the distribution of survey material to the enumerators. At many localities in the district headquarters and other urban areas, the survey has started at noon. By 6 pm, about 75 percent of the population was covered by the enumerators. District Collector G Kishan closely monitored the conduct of the survey. He said the response from the public to the survey was overwhelming.

In view of the survey, a curfew-like situation prevailed in the streets of the district on Tuesday with different sections of people confining themselves to indoors to get themselves registered in the integrated household survey.

As RTC buses and auto-rickshaws went off the roads, they wore a deserted look. Not a single soul moved on the roads, except for the enumerators who were assigned the task of conducting the survey. All the business establishments including medical shops and petrol bunks downed their shutters enabling their employees to participate in the survey.

The public stayed at their houses waiting for the enumerators to arrive to collect the details and for many it was like appearing for an annual examination. The people were seen asking each other about the documents to be produced and what details needed to be furnished.

Nevertheless, it all went off simply and smoothly much to the pleasure of district administration and providing relief to the public. The state governments’ directions to the officials to make the survey as simple as possible made the public relaxed.