Finance Minister Etela Rajender today clarified that the data collected under Comprehensive Household Survey in the State would be used to cross-check facts in the issuance of ration cards and pensions. He also assured that a re-survey would be conducted for the families which were left in the earlier survey.
Replying to a question raised by TDP member A Revanth Reddy during the Question Hour in the Assembly, Rajender said an expenditure of Rs 20 crore was incurred by the government for the survey at the rate of Rs 2 crores per district. The government intends to make use of the data collected through this survey to identify eligible poor persons for extending benefits under various welfare programs. Based on the data, no genuine beneficiary was made ineligible for the government schemes, he said. The data pertaining to 1,01,93,027 households were collected during the survey on August 19. However, if any household was left out, steps would be taken to get the same enumerated, he added,
Reminding that the main target of the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was reinvention of Telangana, the Minister claimed the government has taken up the comprehensive survey as there was no accurate statistical data on the socio-economic conditions of people in Telangana State. The format of the survey was prepared after hundreds of hours of discussions and four lakh employees were deployed for the same. The government has fixed 12 hours for the survey as it would avoid duplication of entries, he opined. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also appreciated the survey by the Telangana government, he pointed out. He also made it clear that the data collected by the survey was not only for the purpose of issue of ration cards and pensions, but also aimed at collecting data on the socio, economic and social status of people in Telangana State.
TDP MLA A Revanth Reddy alleged that the Telangana Government literally lay a siege to the entire State by confining buses to RTC depots. He pointed out that some 12 lakh people in Mahbubnagar district, six lakhs each from Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts who migrated to other places in search of livelihood faced hardship due to the survey. Reminding that Adhar program launched by the Centre at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore yielded only 60 to 70 percent results, Revanth Reddy questioned how complete data could be secured during the survey in just 12 hours with Rs 20 crores. He suggested to the government to open survey counters at MRO offices. “If the government was sincere to know the socio-economic conditions of the Telangana people, what was the reason for including loan column in the survey form. The government should also collect this information also”, he suggested.
Congress member Chinna Reddy said Chief Minister KCR had announced that those who failed to enroll in the survey would be treated as not belonging to Telangana and created panic in the State. He also felt that five lakh families were not covered by the survey. Reminding that 10 people died in Mahbubnagar district while coming to participate in the survey, the Congress legislator demanded that the government pay compensation to their families. As more number of members evinced interest to speak on the subject, Speaker Madhusudana Chary announced that he was admitting this subject for half-an-hour discussion. (NSS)