The 'Intensive Household Survey' across Telangana, aiming to ascertain the details of an estimated 84 lakh families living in the state, has been a huge success and also an "eye opener" for its critics due to voluntary participation of people, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said here today.
"This is a super hit survey. It has been successful beyond our expectations. This is an eye-opener for those who criticised (it). I sincerely and whole-heartedly thank all the employees and students for making the survey a big success," Rao told reporters at a press conference this evening.
Seeking to defuse the controversy surrounding the one-day exercise, which aims at identifying who qualifies for state welfare schemes, Rao said, "those who tried to make it a controversy, their face has been blackened (following the success of the survey)."
"Those who tried to malign the government's intentions about the purpose of the survey, and spread apprehensions and indulged in misinformation campaign..People have slapped them," he said.
Allegations were raised about the "objective" of the survey, with certain sections saying that the enumeration drive is aimed at identifying natives of Seemandhra, the truncated state of Andhra Pradesh, staying in the newly-formed Telangana.
"I would suggest other Chief Ministers in the country to undertake this kind of survey so that the statistics can be effectively used to implement developmental and welfare schemes. This is an eye-opener even for the Government of India," the Chief Minister said.
He said that the governmental schemes can reach the appropriate beneficiaries with availability of exact data through the survey.
To a query, Rao said that the exact percentage of people participated in the survey will be known only tomorrow.
"In some districts 90 per cent people have participated till the last reports came in. In Hyderabad also it crossed 80 per cent. It may continue till late in the night," he added.
About four lakh employees of Telangana, including teachers, students and policemen, are involved in the massive exercise.
Rao said that his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu also participated in the survey and gave his details.
