Upscale colonies also a problem: Census officials

Delhi Census Commissioner Varsha Joshi said the national capital has its own set of challenges as it has a huge migrant population that lives in the many urban villages and unauthorised colonies where landlords are often reluctant to share information on tenants as they fear levying of more property taxes,threats of demolition,or even exploitation.

“In difficult areas,they are taking necessary advance action,” she said. “In June,when the charge officials did their rounds,they identified the issues in various zones and have reached out to RWAs and landlords to allay fears and tell them that the information will be kept confidential and also that not cooperating with the government may lead to imprisonment of up to three years,” she added.

In upscale colonies,there is the attitude problem but she said the officials are aware of it and have been raising awareness through their outreach campaigns and for the first time,the commission has entered into an understanding with the RWAs to eliminate such issues.

“You got to try hard. Maybe there will still be one per cent of people who you won’t get until the end but we have been working on spreading the word and this time we are better prepared as we started the work in advance,” Joshi said. “The charge officers are in regular touch with the RWAs.”

Joshi is also working with a bunch of NGOs on a series of nukkad nataks to be staged in at least 250 locations across the city,mostly in unauthorised colonies where she feels there is need for awareness to mitigate apprehensions about personal information being given out to government officials.

“We have a bigger challenge in areas where a lot of migrants live. That’s a large number of people and these are densely populated areas and landlords feel hesitant to allow enumerators in as they are afraid of any action that could be taken against them,” she said.

To overcome such hurdles in such unregulated areas that are migrant hubs,Joshi has reached out to the landlords so the access is not an issue.

In unauthorised colonies,census officials will supervise and monitor regularly so nobody is left out. There is a also a helpline number 18003450111 that people can call in case they have not been counted.