Fieldwork under pre-SIR underway; drug, socio-economic survey begins today

Bathinda: Even as house-to-house mapping under the pre-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists nears completion, Punjab will roll out fieldwork for the drug and socio-economic survey from Tuesday (May 5). Census fieldwork will follow from May 15.Three major exercises will run through May and June, necessitating the deployment of tens of thousands of employees — including teachers and anganwadi workers — for door-to-door collection of data across the state.While SIR and Census-2027 are central govt initiatives, the drug and socio-economic survey is a state-specific exercise aimed at gathering updated data on the drug situation and the socio-economic profile of households in Punjab.House mapping under pre-SIR has been conducted by booth-level officers (BLOs) to update and verify electoral rolls. Officials said nearly 90% of the work has been completed. BLOs are expected to return to the field in June after the first phase of the Census concludes on June 13.Self-enumeration for the Census began on April 30 and will continue till May 14. From May 15 to June 13, enumerators will carry out house-to-house visits to verify details submitted by residents and complete house listing operations.The drug and socio-economic survey begins on May 5. Enumerators and supervisors have been deployed across all polling booths and trained for the exercise. According to the state govt, around 28,000 employees have been engaged to cover about 65 lakh families, with the panchayats and rural development dept serving as the nodal agency.The survey aims to generate accurate, household-level data on drug abuse and socio-economic conditions to help the govt shift from a purely enforcement-centric approach to targeted rehabilitation and welfare planning.Barnala deputy commissioner Harpreet Singh said the survey would be conducted digitally through a dedicated mobile app and assured that the data collected would remain confidential, urging residents to cooperate and provide accurate information during door-to-door visits.Democratic Teachers Front leader Digvijay Pal said nearly 70,000 teachers have been deployed across various initiatives, affecting academic work. He added that field staff have undergone training and will be required to visit households for data collection.Anganwadi workers, too, have been assigned duties outside their core responsibilities, said All Punjab Anganwadi Mulazam Union state president Hargobind Kaur. Punjab has 27,556 anganwadi workers whose primary mandate under the ICDS includes child care, nutrition for pregnant women, and pre-school education for children aged 3–6, she said.A senior state govt official, however, said the major exercises were national obligations and that the state was duty-bound to carry them out. Efforts had been made, he added, to minimise the deployment of teachers and other essential staff.