While it’s almost a month since the socio-economic caste census (SECC) – 2011work ended, those who conducted the survey are making a fuss, saying their payment was getting “delayed.”
The census concluded on June 15, and 99 per cent of the enumerators consisted of school teachers. The data entry operators for the work were deployed by a private firm named Rural Shores.
These operators were paid Rs 7,500 per person by the private firm within two weeks of the census completion, adding to the anguish of the rest of the men and women who had fanned out to the field.
The enumerators were promised Rs 18,000 while the supervisors were to get Rs 24,000. A sum of Rs 12,000 was promised for the charge officers, who undertook the overall supervision.
The work related to the census is over and the report is in the process of being placed before the Grama Sabhas, government sources said.
The government is yet to make clear whether the amount would be distributed lump sum or in installments. Government sources said the disbursal is being put off owing to “paucity of funds” with the government, but this might not be true.
The project director in Ernakulam, N. Vinodini, told DC the National Informatics Centre was yet to fully upload the data related to the census. “Once this is done, the payments will be made,” she said.
“If they are asked to verify a data by going to the field once again, they might not do it if they are paid,” she reasoned, and added that there was no paucity of funds to make the payment.