BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Tuesday announced the commencement of the month-long house listing exercise from April 16 as part of the preparations for the 2027 census.
As per a notification issued by the Revenue and Disaster Management department, the house listing operation will be held in the state from April 16 to May 15 this year. Prior to this, residents will have the option of self-enumeration for a period of 15 days from April 1 to 15, it said.
Under the self-enumeration provision, residents who wish to submit their household details independently can do so online during a specified period, just before the commencement of door-to-door house listing.
Joint director of Census Operations Hemant Kumar Singh said the exercise will be fully digital and there will be no paperwork. Enumerators will ask 34 questions and fill them up in the mobile app, he added.
“The census operations will be conducted in two phases. The second phase involving a door-to-door population census, which includes collection of individual demographic and socio-economic details, will begin in February 2027. Caste census will also be conducted in this phase,” Singh informed.
He said chief secretary Anu Garg and director of Census Operations in Odisha, Nikhil Pawan Kalyan, will be attending a meeting on census operations at New Delhi on January 23 (Friday).
Nearly one lakh enumerators will be engaged for the exercise in Odisha. Each enumerator is expected to cover approximately 200 households, while one supervisor will oversee the work of six enumerators. Officials said enumerators will receive an incentive of `25,000 for their services.
Pre-test surveys have already been conducted in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar for the census operations nearly six months back to assess preparedness and operational efficiency. Besides, boundaries of newly-created municipalities and notified area councils (NACs) have already been drawn. The census staff will undergo training during the next three months for the purpose.