Telangana witnessed a virtual shutdown and life came to a standstill on Tuesday as enumerators went from door to door to elicit the socio-economic information of households for the Intensive Household Survey (IHS).
At the end of the day, the response was overwhelming in rural and urban areas in nine districts, while it was mixed in the twin cities with people waiting eagerly for the enumerators to turn up till late in the evening.
Festive atmosphereStreets in urban areas, highways and other roads wore a deserted look with vehicles plying sparsely and people confining themselves to their homes awaiting the arrival of enumerators. In rural areas, it was a festive atmosphere as those settled in urban areas returned to their villages making the reunion of families happen, which otherwise is seen only during Dasara and Sankranti festivals.
In Hyderabad, it was a curfew-like atmosphere with all educational institutions, government offices, commercial establishments, cinemas, restaurants and shopping malls remaining closed. Roads in the city were deserted to such an extent that even the bandhs called during the peak of the separate Telangana movement, did not elicit such a similar response.
Early startCity bus stops and major bus stations, including Imlibun (MGBS), Jubilee, Dilsukhnagar, Mehdipatnam, Uppal, Patancheru and others too, wore a deserted look with thin movement of commuters. According to officials, the enumerators started reaching their allotted habitations from 7.30 a.m. even in rural areas and the survey work commenced from 8 a.m.
“Thanks to the massive publicity the exercise received in the print and television media, it has hardly taken 10 minutes in the households which were prepared/ready with information required and about 20 minutes in the households which were not prepared,” B. Vijayalaxmi, a school teacher, who enumerated 40 households in Indiramma Colony at Bowrampet in Qutbullapur mandal in Ranga Reddy district said.
