BHUBANESWAR: The door-to-door survey for house listing and housing operations in the first phase of Population Census-2027 kicked off across the state on Thursday, after completion of the 15-day digital self-enumeration.
The month-long enumeration exercise will cover both urban and rural areas to gather accurate information on households in the state, said officials of Census Operations.
As part of the drive, teachers of both government and private schools along with other government officials and staff, who have been engaged as enumerators and supervisors, started door-to-door visits in different districts. They will be seeking response to a set of 33 questions including housing conditions, family details, head of the household, vehicles, land ownership and LPG usage, etc.
In capital city Bhubaneswar, where about 3,300 enumerators and supervisors have been engaged for the exercise, the house listing survey started from Bhagabati Basti (slum) near Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters. Mayor Sulochana Das and other officials were seen joining the drive to encourage households to share correct information with the enumerators.
Director of Census Operations in Odisha Nikhil Pawan Kalyan informed that about one lakh enumerators and supervisors have been engaged for house listing and housing operations in the state for the first phase of the Census.
“These enumerators and supervisors will collect household data, monitor the process and record the information in a dedicated mobile app developed for the purpose,” Kalyan said.
The census director also informed that the self-enumeration exercise which concluded on April 15 saw a total 2.3 lakh households enrolling themselves in digital mode. The digital enumeration window, however, is now closed, he said.
As per the government notification, the Census-2027 exercise, in the first phase, will involve housing and house listing operations from April 16 to May 15. In the second phase, population enumeration (PE) will be conducted from February 2027, followed by a revisional round from March 1 to March 5, 2027.
The Revenue department has issued a notification urging citizens to extend necessary support to the census officials and enumerators for smooth conduct of the exercise in the state. The department has also warned that persons refusing census officials access to their house or providing false information may face penalty and imprisonment up to three years.