As the self-enumeration phase of Census 2027 begins in Odisha, the state government issued an order on Thursday evening prohibiting the transfer of officials involved in the process until its conclusion.
This administrative freeze is intended to ensure continuity and accuracy during the massive data-collection effort.
The online self-enumeration commenced on April 1, allowing citizens to provide their details online. This initial phase marks the first step in the updated census methodology being implemented across the state.
Arabinda Padhee, Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, communicated the order to heads of various departments, district collectors, and commissioners of municipal corporations and the chief census officer. The letter specifies that personnel assigned to census duties must remain in their current roles unless a situation of extreme urgency arises.
The self-enumeration exercise is scheduled to wrap up at midnight on April 15. Immediately following this, the first phase of house-listing operations will launch across all 30 districts, running from April 16 through May 15, according to government officials.
The second stage – the primary population enumeration phase – will be carried out from February 9 to February 28, 2027, with over 1 lakh trained enumerators and 17,282 supervisors visiting households and collecting data, they said.
