Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said that all household surveys conducted in the past were incomprehensive and inaccurate, and lack of proper data had been leading to large-scale leakages in all welfare schemes implemented by the government.
The Intensive Household Survey-2014 being initiated by the State government will prepare a databank that will be useful in proper planning and implementation of welfare schemes, and see to it that only those who are genuinely needy are benefited, the Chief Minister said.
“There is total confusion over the data collected from different surveys – Census, SERP, Aadhaar and others. The present exercise is aimed at building a genuine database,” he noted.
In his inaugural address at the day-long meeting of Tahsildars, RDOs, Joint Collectors, District Collectors, Secretaries, Ministers and advisors held here on Friday, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao hoped that the proposed database would prevent thieves and middlemen from accessing welfare schemes and save a huge amount of the consolidated public fund.
The day-long survey would aim at collecting information such as total population, number of households, socio-economic conditions of each household, status of health, education and others with the help of about 4 lakh employees, the Chief Minister explained. Stating that there was confusion even regarding the number of households, he noted that the Census had put the figure over 84 lakh while data from another survey pegged it at 86.2 lakh.
“It’s an insult to all of us as the accurate number of government employees is also not available,” the Chief Minister said, and pointed out that thousands of crores of rupees were reaching the undeserving in the form of ration cards, fee reimbursement, Aarogyasri, social security pensions, housing and other schemes.
Asking the officers who issue nativity, income and caste certificates to enquire properly before issuing them, the Chief Minister warned them that they would be held responsible for any commission. He also said that District Collectors must not panic whenever any information is sought but provide correct data, even if it takes time.
