District collectors at the orientation programme. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 21: The Orissa government does not apprehend any danger from the Maoists during the second phase of the census operation that would end between February and March. This was stated by the director (census) Bishnu Pada Sethi.

Enumerators will make door to door visits from February 9 to February 28. The first phase of census including housing, houselisting operations and enumeration was completed between April 7 and May 22, 2010.

Counting of homeless population would be done from February 28. The reference of census is 00.00 hours of March 1, 2011. The enumerators would revisit all the households between March 1 and March 5 to take into consideration factors like death, birth and arrival of visitors. A total of 80,551 enumerators would be engaged for this purpose.

Director Sethi said: “We have engaged local teachers for the census purpose. We do not think Maoists will oppose them. Our census operation will be a peaceful one. The Maoists are familiar with the teachers. It is a national duty and every one has to perform. Other wise, there is a punishment provision.”

Sethi’s remark came during a orientation programme organised for the district collectors and senior officials of the state on behalf of the census office.

In order to carry out the operation, the state has been divided into 95,259 enumeration blocks with average population size of 800. The panchayati Raj department has instructed all the collectors to conduct special gram sabhas in all the gram panchayats on January 26 and include census matter as one of the agenda items and record specific resolution for ensuring co-operation and cent per cent enumeration in the panchayat area.

In a related development, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, on the concluding day of the collector’s conference, asked both the collectors and superintendents of police (SPs) to act in a coordinated way to tackle the Maoist menace in their respective areas. “The district level committee (DLC), headed by collectors, SPs and district forest officers as members, would prepare annual integrated action plans (IAP) for implementation,” said a senior official. Under the IAP, Rs 55 crore would be spent in each district. Under the IAP, efforts would be made to upgrade the skills of boys and girls to ensure that the local people get gainful employment. It also asked the collectors to devise and implement appropriate livelihood programmes.

It was decided at the meeting that the DLC would ensure participatory planning by reaching out to people in remote and inaccessible areas. They will formulate a comprehensive action plan and involve local communities in execution of development projects.

The government has also asked the collectors not to compromise on the quality of development work. Emphasis must be given on community mobilisation for execution of local projects.