Census enumeration begins in Chennai; 1,000+ officials to oversee fully digital exercise

CHENNAI: With population census activities gathering pace across Tamil Nadu, a 100 per cent digital house listing and enumeration commenced across Chennai on Saturday.

Chennai Corporation officials said the exercise will continue until August 30. A total of 8,260 enumerators have been deployed across the Corporation's 15 zones to carry out the survey, while 1,360 officials have been appointed to supervise the work.

Enumerators are visiting households directly to collect data. All information is being collected through a mobile application and recorded entirely in digital format.

During the survey, residents are being asked 34 questions covering the number of family members, vehicle details, number of LPG connections, source of drinking water, availability of toilets and bathrooms, and the primary food grain consumed by the household.

Earlier, a self-enumeration facility was available online from July 17 to July 31. Residents who completed self-enumeration need to provide only their registration number to the enumerator, based on which officials can retrieve their details through the online portal. However, officials noted that only a limited number of people opted for self-enumeration.

Corporation officials appealed to the public to extend full cooperation to enumerators, stating that the data collected during the housing census will form the basis for the country's future development planning, social welfare schemes and infrastructure projects. They also assured that all information collected from the public will be kept secure and treated as confidential.