Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has said that his government had ordered intensive household survey on Tuesday with a view to work with target orientation.
The objective is to extend government benefits to targeted groups with accurate information about settled families in Telangana, he told a press conference on Sunday.
Answering a question that the survey was taken up to know the nativity of people, Mr. Rao said nobody need have apprehensions because it is being done with a positive perspective.
There is no hidden agenda because the government had already fixed 1956 as the base year to identify nativity, he said.
He said life would come to a standstill on Tuesday as it was declared holiday and RTC will not operate services. Except ambulance services, he expected that there would be no commuters on roads that day. It would be best if every member of household is present when the enumeration takes place. Otherwise, the information could be furnished by proxy, he said.
Mr. Rao denied that sharing of bank details is compulsory in survey.
The column in the questionnaire was introduced for the benefit of pensioners and other government beneficiaries for the purpose of crediting money directly to their accounts, the Chief Minister said. He also denied receiving a letter from the Centre about the intention of the survey after TDP MLAs complained to Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami.
He also said the Election Commission had cleared the survey though the election code had come into force for the by-election to Medak parliamentary constituency. The Census Act did not come in the way of the survey because it was a routine practice by several governments and agencies.
Asked why a column on ration cards was not introduced, he said it was because the government knew the status of cards in circulation. The government sought information about debts and diseases, the latter in view of heavy claims for treatment from government.
