Guwahati, Sept. 24: Assam is likely to miss the BPL pilot project survey deadline of September 30 — as it has not even started it — and, hence, the final BPL survey of 2011.

The Union ministry of rural development had instructed the northeastern states to carry out a pilot rural socio-economic survey in selected districts and villages (see chart for Assam) from August 1 and complete the same by September 30.

There are two parts to the pilot exercise. The first is collection and entry of data through structured questionnaires by officials visiting households while the second includes participatory rural appraisal (PRA) exercises in which NGOs would follow the household survey.

While the governments of six northeastern states have almost completed the data collection for the pilot survey, Assam is yet to start it, sources in the state government said.

After the pilot project, the states have been asked to come up with a methodology specific to them, based on which the 2011 BPL survey would be conducted. At this point, it seems a far cry where Assam is concerned.

Critics said the delay would give credence to the Opposition charge that the government was only giving lip-service to the poor. Already there is resentment over selection of beneficiaries for the chief minister’s food security scheme (meant to benefit BPL beneficiaries) which envisages 10kg rice per family a month at the rate of Rs 6 a kg for people who are poor but not included in the BPL list.

Confirming the delay, Girija Prasad Bora of DHAN Foundation, an NGO entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out the PRA exercise in Assam, told this correspondent today, “We have not been able to start the PRA exercise in the selected villages as the government is yet to start the data collection process there.”

“The ministry had issued a stipulated time frame for completing the whole project and the deadline expires on September 30. However, the Assam government is yet to start work on the first phase. They are going very slow on the project and now it is unlikely that the pilot survey will be completed on time,” he added.

Though ahead of Assam, the other northeastern states will not be able to maintain the September 30 deadline either, admitted Mrinal Gohain of Action Aid, an international NGO which is conducting the PRA exercise in the other northeastern states. “We are expecting to start the PRA exercise in six states — Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura — by the first week of October,” he said.

The pilot survey is to be carried out in 24 villages of the northeastern states — 10 villages from 10 districts of Assam, two villages each from two districts of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya, and four villages from four districts of Manipur.

The Centre has provided technical and financial support for the pilot project.

It released the first instalment of the funds to Assam in March and the second instalment was to be released after the state government submitted utilisation certificates of at least 75 per cent of the funds.