Hyderabad: Roads lay deserted across Telangana as lakhs of people wait at home to participate in the state government's Intensive Household Survey.
Amongst the many people flocking to Telangana to register their presence is Venkat Rama Rao who traveled back to Hyderabad especially to ensure he doesn't miss out on the survey. "I am giving my details, government will do something good," he believes.
The government intends to cover 84 lakh households in 10 districts. But not many people are comfortable sharing personal information like their bank account details. Many ask why the government needs this information.
"Many people are not giving their details to us...some people are taking survey some are refusing," said Shabnam, an enumerator.
The survey has sparked panic and fear among people from neighboring Andhra Pradesh who are settled in Telangana. Some of them call it a profiling exercise. "I am from Andhra, so, we have this fear that we will be discriminated." says Vasu.
Dismissing all allegations, the TRS government claims it is just a socio-economic survey taken up to ensure that state welfare schemes benefit the targeted sections of society.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader K Keshav Rao explains, "data bank is important for the planning of new state policies."
But the opposition refuses to buy that line. The survey may be over, but the politics and controversy surrounding it may not be over any time soon.
After much controversy the participation in the survey was made voluntary and people were not even forced to furnish every document. Yet the state government was not able to win confidence of many people and the opposition. At the end of the day, doubts still remained in the mind of the people.
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