KOCHI: The socio-economic and caste census 2012 seems to be going down a blind alley with no accurate results to its credit. Though the date to complete the survey of census is fast approaching, the officials who are assigned census duty are groping in the dark with scant information on the topic. As the census could not be completed within the stipulated time, the government has extended the date to June 2.But many supervisors have complained that they are yet to get the required tablets and data operators to verify the collected data. So far the enumeration has been completed only in Wayanad district.“The supervisors should verify 10 per cent of the data collected by the enumerators. But we could not do it as we did not get the software which has been allotted for it,” said one of the supervisors.To add more trouble, the government has asked the officials to work during holidays and after their duty time, if the census could not be completed on June 2. “The schools will reopen by June 4 and it’s certain that the census can’t be completed by June 2 as we have finished only half of the population. If that is the case, we will be overburdened with duties,” he said.Confusion prevails as the officials are not provided with information on the responsible authorities heading the sections concerned.“The officials are completely disillusioned as we don’t know which authority to contact,” he said. This was proved right when Express contacted both the technical as well as the administrative staff. One of the officers in charge of Ernakulam district could not even give information regarding the state-level authorities who are in charge of caste census.Besides, the enumerators pointed out that improper management coupled with people’s apprehension regarding the census is putting it off the track. “We have to face stiff opposition from the people as there exists no concrete divide to distinguish the upper and lower strata of society. The questions are not specific,” said an enumerator.
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