Telangana to shut down for state survey on Tuesday

In an unprecedented exercise for the country, govt wants to enumerate details of all households in a day to base decisions on residence and benefits

On Tuesday, there will be no public transport in the new state of Telangana. All government offices, educational institutions, many hotels, several companies, banks and other establishments will be closed. For, the state government has said it wants people to stay at home - it is going to conduct an Intensive Household Survey (IHS) on that day.

The survey aims to enumerate about nine million households in the entire state on a single day. According to the government's Principal Secretary (Planning) B P Acharya, as many as 375,000 staffers will collect the data. Each will be asked to enumerate 20-25 households.

The proposed survey has, however, already caused panic among a section. They're worried at the intention, though Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has repeatedly asserted that this day-long survey, first of its kind in the country, was aimed at only extending government benefits to genuine beneficiaries. A public interest suit was filed in the high court here, seeking a stay on the survey. The state government explained that the proposed IHS was a voluntary one and people could choose not to answer the questions. Following this, the court declined to stay it. Earlier, there had been indications that taking part was mandatory and all the members of a family should be present. Consequently, people of Telangana residing in other states made a beeline to their native places. Reports from Surat, Mumbai, Chennai and other places said buses and trains to Telangana were packed with passengers belonging to the region. Subsequently, the government officials clarified that all members of a household need not be present - the head of the family could give the details.

The scope is comprehensive. It seeks to secure a wide range of information, including details of property tax, water tax, bank account, cooking gas connection, Aadhaar card, birth certificate, phone bill, PAN (income tax) card and properties held, among other things. Many people have been worried about divulging all this. For them, the government's assurance to the court that they need not reveal the details if they choose was a relief. As the state government declared a holiday, several companies have decided to suspend their operations on Tuesday. A top official of Aurobindo Pharma, for instance, told Business Standard they'd declared a paid holiday on Tuesday.

"Even though we have a eight-hour shift system, we have declared a holiday. Like in the case of a Sunday, we will maintain skeletal staff on Tuesday to attend to emergency cases" said B Bhankar Rao, managing director (MD) of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences.