KCR plans massive survey of 84 lakh households

Hyderabad, In a massive exercise to ascertain the socio-economic conditions of four crore people in Telangana, about four lakh employees will conduct the Intensive Household Survey in a single day on Aug 19.

The survey, aimed at weeding out fake beneficiaries of government welfare schemes, will cover 84 lakh households in all 10 districts of Telangana including Hyderabad.

Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday asked the government staff to be ready for the exercise and appealed to people to cooperate in the survey by sharing information.

He said the government would declare Aug 19 (Tuesday) a holiday so that people are available in their homes when employees visit them to collect the data.

The chief minister Friday addressed a meeting of district collectors and top revenue officials, which worked out the modalities and finalized the format and proforma for the survey.

He said the comprehensive data from the survey would help the government in drafting its policies and schemes and to ensure that the benefits reach the targeted sections.

"Comprehensive and correct data is a must to ensure social justice," he said. The government in the newly formed state is embarking on the massive survey before launching welfare schemes like two-bed room houses each costing Rs.3.5 lakh for weaker sections and reimbursement of students' fee.

KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, pointed out the state has 91 lakh white ration cards (issued to below poverty line families) while the entire state has 84 lakh households.

Stating that surveys done in the past were full of discrepancies, he said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government would not repeat such mistakes.

"Statistics hold the key for successful implementation of government welfare schemes and policies. If the numbers are wrong, schemes are bound to fail," he said.

The chief minister asked the employees not to come under any political pressure and conduct the survey in an impartial manner.

Four lakh employees including teachers and policemen will be drafted for the survey duty. They decided not to take remuneration for the work.

Lauding their gesture, the chief minister appealed to people in villages to arrange food for the employees. The government will make transport arrangements for the staff.

He announced Rs.2 crore for each district to undertake the survey. KCR also asked the revenue employees to survey the government land. He said 20 lakh acre government would be utilized properly for the industry without leaving scope for misuse of even a single inch.

He said the absence of data about the government lands led to scams and land grabbing in the past.