Bhubaneswar: The first phase of the Census House Listing Operations (HLO) will begin across all 30 districts of Odisha from April 16 and continue till May 15, a top official said Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference, Director of Census Operations in Odisha, Nikhil Pavan Kalyan, said over 1 lakh trained enumerators and 17,282 supervisors will visit households and collect data during the period.
They will ask 33 questions prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the head of each household, including residential, non-residential, jails, malls, etc, he said.
“Persons residing in any place in Odisha, whether from the state or other states, will be enumerated. Not a single household will be left out during the Census,” Kalyan added.
He said the operation will be conducted through field visits using a mobile application.
Prior to this, a self-enumeration provision will be available online from April 1 to midnight of April 15, allowing citizens to submit their information themselves, he said.
Renowned sand artist and Padma Shri awardee Sudarshan Pattnaik has given his consent to be the brand ambassador for the promotion and outreach of this Census programme, he informed.
The district collectors and municipal commissioners will serve as principal Census officers, while additional district magistrates (ADMs) will be the district Census officers.
Additionally, under the supervision of the district collectors, the executive officers of each urban local body and tahsildars of tehsils have been nominated as charge officers, he informed.
The Revenue and Disaster Management Department is the nodal department for the programme. Primary school teachers will be appointed as enumerators and high school teachers as supervisors.
This will be India’s first digital Census, with self-enumeration available for the first time. Data submitted online will be verified by enumerators during field visits, Kalyan said.
The second phase, or the primary population enumeration phase, will be carried out from February 9 to 28, 2027, the Census Director informed.
