Non-sequential house allotment troubles teachers in socio-economic survey

Haveri: Teachers conducting the socio-economic survey for the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes are encountering significant challenges due to non-sequential housing allotment. Originally scheduled to conclude within the next two days, the survey was delayed as numerous issues remained unresolved, leaving enumerators to struggle without any respite to celebrate Dasara.

The Unique Housing ID (UHID) numbers, mapped for the first time with meter numbers, were not generated sequentially. This discrepancy resulted in teachers overseeing houses spread across distant localities such as Ijarilakamapur, Nagendranamatti, and Hangal Road in Haveri city.

Consequently, four to five surveyors must conduct surveys in the same area, facing difficulties in identifying houses since the Revenue Registration (RR) number of the energy meter is used to geo-tag residences. Due to this technical problem, teachers were forced to travel extensively to locate their assigned houses.

Highlighting the issue with RR numbers, a teacher in Haveri stated, "It would have been easier to identify the house with the voters' list. We are finding it difficult to identify houses." She further explained, "I surveyed one house in Vinayak Nagar of Ijarilakamapur, but the next house is in Srikantappa Badavane on Hangal Road, which is allotted to me. Due to a lack of proper mapping, we must wander the entire Haveri city for the survey. The app provides us only the numbers mentioned on the stickers pasted outside the houses, which are geo-tagged. It is challenging to use the location app to trace the house and get the information," the teacher said, expressing her disappointment.

Another surveyor shared, "I completed 50% of the survey, but could not find the rest of the houses through the GPS because of the mismatch of UHID numbers. I requested our higher authority to trace houses through GPS; but they were not traceable. Our higher authorities are also helpless in this regard."

A surveyor deployed on the border of Hangal taluk mentioned that he was allotted houses in Mundagod taluk due to UHID numbering issues. After drawing attention to this problem, those houses were removed from the survey list. "This is not just my problem; many teachers have been facing the same, and it is hard to complete the survey on time," shared a teacher in Hangal taluk.

When contacted, block education officer (BEO) MH Patil acknowledged the problem during the allotment of houses to enumerators. He stated, "The problem arose when generating UHID numbers. However, our teachers are putting in efforts to track houses for the survey. We will bring this problem to the attention of higher authorities."