The inaugural phase of the Census House Listing Operations (HLO) is set to launch across all 30 districts of Odisha from April 16 to May 15, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press briefing in Bhubaneswar, Nikhil Pavan Kalyan, Director of Census Operations in Odisha, said that a workforce of over 100,000 trained enumerators and 17,282 supervisors will conduct door-to-door visits to gather data during this month-long exercise.
They will pose 33 questions formulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs to household heads. This data collection will cover all structures, including residential homes, commercial malls, and even jails, he said.
“Persons residing in any place in Odisha, whether from the state or other states, will be enumerated. Not a single household will be left out during the Census,” Kalyan added.
He said the entire operation is moving digital, with field data being collected through a specialised mobile application.
In a first for the nation, a self-enumeration window will open online from April 1 until midnight on April 15, allowing residents to submit their information proactively before field visits begin, he said.
Renowned sand artist and Padma Shri awardee Sudarshan Pattnaik has given his consent to be the brand ambassador for the promotion and outreach of this Census programme, he informed.
The administrative hierarchy for the project will see District Collectors and Municipal Commissioners acting as Principal Census Officers, while Additional District Magistrates (ADMs) will serve as District Census Officers.
Furthermore, Tahsildars and Executive Officers of urban local bodies have been designated as Charge Officers to oversee the process at the local level.
The Revenue and Disaster Management Department will act as the nodal department for the programme. The workforce will primarily consist of primary school teachers serving as enumerators and high school teachers acting as supervisors.
Kalyan highlighted that data submitted during the self-enumeration phase will still undergo verification by enumerators during their scheduled field visits.
The Census Director informed that the second phase—the primary population enumeration—is scheduled to take place from February 9 to 28, 2027.
