New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) The houselisting and housing enumeration phase of Census 2027 kicked off in NDMC and cantonment areas of the capital on Thursday, with door-to-door listing and verification work progressing in full swing.
Around 570 enumerators were deployed in New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Cantonment Board areas, who mapped the houselisting blocks allocated to them, a census officer said.
There are a total of 473 houselisting blocks in the New Delhi district, covering NDMC and Cantonment Board areas.
During the first three days, April 16-18, the enumerators along with their supervisors will visit respective houselisting blocks to verify their area of operation, and map a layout to ensure coverage of all buildings in their block and avoid repetition, officials said.
The entire houselisting exercise will be conducted digitally through the 'Census 2027-HLO' mobile application.
After the preparation of a layout map, the enumeration of houselisting blocks will start April 19 onwards, they said.
"Around 200 entries from areas such as Chanakyapuri and New Moti Bagh have been received and enumerated so far," he said.
Officials said some residents questioned enumerators when they knocked at their doors, confusing the houselisting exercise with the special intensive revision (SIR) related to electoral rolls.
"However, we have already instructed the enumerators for caution in such situations and allay any fears expressed by people during houselisting," the official said.
According to officials privy to the matter, at least 571 enumerators were deployed on Thursday, the first day of the houselisting and housing census.
Each enumerator has been allocated 180-200 houses -- comprising one houselisting block -- for physical verification to ensure that the details residents filed during the self-enumeration exercise are correct, an NDMC official associated with the census said.
"On the first day, enumerators mapped their allocated areas, and verification was also conducted in few areas," he said.
The exercise is being conducted simultaneously for 'jhuggi jhopdi' (slum) clusters in NDMC areas, which have unsystematic housing numbers and include areas such as Sanjay Gandhi and Vivekanand camps, he stated.
Under the verification exercise, those who completed self-enumeration between April 1-15, have to provide self-enumeration IDs, to be used by enumerators to tally with the information already furnished by them, officials said.
Households that did not opt for self-enumeration will be covered during the physical house-to-house visits.
The mobile application for the houselisting and housing census is also being used by enumerators to geo-tag properties and record other details like materials used in construction, basic facilities available, among others.
The self-enumeration exercise will begin from May 1 in remaining areas of the capital, falling under Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) jurisdiction.
The houselisting exercise will take place in the city in two 30-day windows.
The exercise will be undertaken in NDMC and Delhi Cantonment areas from April 16 to May 15, and in MCD areas from May 16 to June 15, they said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has notified a list of 33 questions to be asked of individuals during the houselisting and housing census.
These include building number, census house number, predominant materials used in the floor, wall, and roof of the house, use and condition of the house, total number of persons in the household and the name of the head of the household.
Ownership of house, number of dwelling rooms, main source of drinking water and lighting, access to toilet and bathroom, fuel used for cooking, use of radio, television, computer, laptop, bicycle, car, jeep, van, main cereal consumed and the use of mobile phones are other questions, according to the notification.
The houselisting and housing census is being conducted digitally with enumerators recording data using a mobile app specifically designed for this purpose, officials said.
The houselisting and housing census phase will be followed by population enumeration in February 2027, encompassing the collection of demographic and socio-economic data.