Telangana: State to Allot Temporary Numbers to New Houses

Hyderabad: The state government ordered municipal commissioners and mandal parishad development officers to assign special numbers to houses without official identification numbers as part of preparations for the house listing phase of the Census 2027, which will be conducted from May 11 to June 9.

Officials were instructed to ensure that all residential structures, including new constructions, temporary dwellings and rural houses, are included in the housing inventory. Officials were also directed to inform house owners that the special identification numbers are meant solely for census purposes and do not confer ownership or any legal rights. After verifying the total number of houses, officials must complete the preparatory exercise of numbering structures in cities, towns and villages and then allocate enumerator blocks for registration of houses.

Official sources said the Centre rejected the state government’s request to conduct the census by treating Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation (MMC) as separate entities.

The state government had expanded the limits of GHMC up to the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in December 2025, increasing its wards from 150 to 300 by merging 27 surrounding municipalities. A gazette notification was issued on December 25, 2025. The Centre froze revenue boundaries of all districts, cities, towns and villages on December 31, 2025.

Subsequently, the state government trifurcated the expanded GHMC area into three divisions, namely GHMC, CMC and MMC, on February 11, 2026, and requested the Centre to recognise the revised boundaries for census purposes.

The Centre, however, declined the request, stating that census boundary rules would remain uniform across states and no exemptions would be granted. As a result, population enumeration for Hyderabad will be conducted according to the expanded limits of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation up to the Outer Ring Road.

However, the officials said since municipal ward-wise data will be collected for census, the state government could independently estimate the population of Cyberabad Municipal Corporation and Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation by aggregating ward-wise population data, though official census figures will be released under GHMC.

Under the census numbering system, houses without numbers or new buildings constructed between existing numbered structures will be given sub-numbers such as 10/1. In buildings containing multiple independent units, the structure will be treated as a single building while each unit will receive a sub-number such as 11(1) or 11(2). The numbers will be marked prominently near the entrance of each structure using durable material such as paint.

The upcoming census will also be India’s first fully digital exercise, with all buildings geo-tagged through a mobile application to enable accurate mapping. The house-listing phase in Telangana will be held from May 11 to June 9, 2026, followed by population enumeration in February 2027.