Bhubaneswar, April 2: The Odisha government has taken significant steps to ensure the successful completion of the 2027 census by directing all departments, district administrations, and urban bodies to refrain from transferring officials and employees involved in the census work.
The Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Arbind Padhy, has issued necessary guidelines through letters to various department secretaries, heads of departments, collectors of all districts, municipal commissioners, and chief census officers.
The state government has initiated comprehensive preparations for the smooth conduct of the 2027 census, which will be conducted digitally in two phases. The first phase will involve house listing and housing census from April 16 to May 15, 2026, for a duration of 30 days, while a self-enumeration program will take place from April 1 to April 15, 2026.
The second phase will focus on population enumeration in February 2027. The government has emphasized that to ensure the success of the census, all departments, district administrations, and urban bodies must not transfer officials and employees engaged in this work. Chief census officers in all districts and municipal corporations have been instructed to complete the training of census personnel within the stipulated timeframe.
Additionally, master trainers and field trainers involved in the census work will not be transferred until March 2027. The government has clarified that any transfer of supervisors and enumerators will require prior approval from the respective district chief census officer.
Heads of all departments have been directed to strictly adhere to the guidelines regarding the transfer control of field-level census personnel. All officials and employees associated with the census will perform their duties under the Census Act of 1948 and the Census Rules of 1990.
The state government has appealed for cooperation from all stakeholders to ensure the success of the 2027 census. Meanwhile, a second meeting of the state-level coordination committee for the 2027 census was held on Thursday, chaired by Chief Secretary Anu Garg at the Lok Seva Bhawan.