LUCKNOW:
FIRs would be lodged against personnel skipping the training workshop on Census 2011.
The head count in country's most populous state will begin from May 16. But the decadal exercise has failed to evoke a positive response from the employees nominated to conduct it in Lucknow.
On the first day of the workshop organised by the district administration on Monday, over 1,500 personnel were found missing. Annoyed over this, district magistrate Anil Kumar Sagar, who is also principal census officer, directed lodging of FIRs against those abstaining from the workshop.
Sagar gave the order during a meeting held on Monday evening to review the progress of census work. "We have already exempted people who had genuine reasons. Elderly employees with less than a year left for retirement, pregnant women, persons who underwent surgeries recently or those suffering from serious ailments... but for all those who have taken their job non-seriously, action will follow," Sagar told.
Nodal officer census and additional district magistrate Anil Pathak informed that the massive enumeration drive involves cumulative efforts of over four lakh personnel across UP. In Lucknow, around 10,000 persons would conduct the exercise. "The training workshop organised by representatives from Directorate of Census Operations (DCO) is a crucial link. It is only after this exposure that the personnel will be able to undertake house-listing and housing census," DM said.
Notably, this data involves collection of comprehensive details about the condition of human settlements, deficits in the availability of houses, and in effect, give the government an insight into formulating future housing policies. The exercise would also reflect trends in population growth along with the characteristics of a particular area.
Nodal officer Pathak informed that Census 2011 is important from several points of view. "Data collection for Census 2011 is a twin task. The same data will be forwarded to the Unique Identity Authority of India which is working to award every India a unique identity number," said the officer. The officials, meanwhile, assured that census duty doesn't mean tiresome task. Each individual would have to cover only 150 houses in a time period of 45 days. "... given the target and time, if people plan their day, they would be able to achieve the target without letting their normal work affected. And for those who cannot, they may finish the job in one go, which will not take 45 days for sure," they said.
From the public perspective, the census team of Lucknow, the officials assured that information collected about individuals would be kept confidential. In fact, the information gathered would not be accessible even to the courts of law. Details such as name, date of birth, sex, present address, permanent address, names of father, mother and spouse etc., will be gathered by visiting every household.
