Gandhinagar, May 12 (PTI) The first phase of Census 2027 in Gujarat will begin from June 1, with authorities announcing a fresh schedule for door-to-door house listing operations after the exercise was deferred due to local body elections.
Director of Census Operations Sujal Mayatra said the exercise, originally slated for April, will now see field enumerators visiting households across 34 districts and 17 municipal corporations throughout June to collect data on housing conditions and assets via a dedicated mobile app.
He said citizens will be able to participate in the census using a self-enumeration portal from May 17 to May 31, while house listing operations (HLOs) will be carried out from June 1 to June 30.
Addressing a press conference here, Mayatara said that the census exercise in Gujarat was initially scheduled to begin in April, but was postponed following the announcement of local body elections.
The census will be conducted in two phases, with the first phase comprising House Listing Operations (HLO), to be held in June, and the second phase involving population enumeration in February 2027.
For the first time, citizens will be able to submit information regarding their houses, household amenities and assets online on the Government of India’s portal ‘https:e.census.gov.in.’, he said.
Mayatra said the move reflected a greater emphasis on digital governance compared to previous census exercises.
He said the HLOs would be carried out using a dedicated mobile application developed for Census field enumeration.
More than 1.10 lakh personnel, including supervisors and enumerators, would be involved in the exercise across Gujarat’s 17 municipal corporations and 34 districts, the official said.
“They have 30 days, covering data for an estimated 700 to 800 individuals per enumerator,” he said, adding that the timeline was adequate for completion of the exercise.
Mayatra appealed to citizens to cooperate with enumerators and provide complete and accurate information during the exercise.
He also stressed that all information collected during census operations would remain strictly confidential under provisions of the Census Act, 1948.
The official said that the house-listing phase would focus on counting residential units and collecting information such as housing conditions and amenities, while detailed population data would be collected during the population enumeration phase next year.
During the exercise, enumerators will visit each household and ask 33 questions, such as construction material used, access to latrine, availability of LPG/PNG connection, main source of lighting, fuel used for cooking and vehicles owned.
Maytra also highlighted some of the new questions introduced in Census 2027, including access to internet facilities, smartphones, the main source of water and the type of cereal consumed most in households.
“Apart from these 33 questions, the enumerator will not ask a single extra question. It is the duty of the citizens to cooperate with them and provide accurate answers. If any person refuses to give details, we can slap a fine on him, or register an FIR against him,” he said. PTI PJT PD ARU
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