[1]The socio-economic census scheduled to begin in Chennai on Tuesday suffered some hiccups as the data entry operators promised by a state owned electronics company failed to report for duty.
However, in a few pockets corporation officials roped in civic staff and began the census work. The census drive began in parts of Ayanavaram and Otteri.
“As it was a public holiday and I had leisure time, I was waiting for the enumerators but till Tuesday 8 pm no one turned up seeking census details,” said Mr C. Arumugham, a government school teacher and a resident of Pursawalkam.
When contacted, a senior corporation official said in four days the drive would gain momentum and initial hiccups were being sorted out. The staff have been given adequate training and will cover all households in Chennai, the official said.
In city a total of 64 charge centres have been set up to cover 12,312 enumeration blocks in the city and the collected database will be uploaded by 128 database administrators.
The city corporation in a statement urged the public to provide details sought by the enumerators. The massive exercises which commenced on May 1 is likely to extend for about 40 days. Chennai has a total population of about 65 lakh with 14.91 lakh households.
As many as 3,623 data entry operators and 497 supervisors have been appointed for the job. The census directorate, ministry of home affairs, has urged the members of public to co-operate with the government staff deployed on census duty and the exercise can be a success only with public participation.
Successful enumeration is likely to facilitate future development plans for all sections of society in the city. The census will be based on self declaration and the entire exercise will be paperless, census officials said.
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