The initial phase will cover the house listing and housing census, during which data on residential structures and household assets will be collected. The second phase will involve door-to-door enumeration of the population across the State.
Bhubaneswar: The first phase of the Census in Odisha will begin in April, while the second phase involving population enumeration is scheduled for February 2027, officials said on Wednesday.
The initial phase will cover the house listing and housing census, during which data on residential structures and household assets will be collected. The second phase will involve door-to-door enumeration of the population across the State.
Ahead of the exercise, Development Commissioner Deo Ranjan Singh held discussions with all district collectors to assess preparedness. A State-level Census Coordination Committee meeting was also convened at Lok Seva Bhawan, attended by the Census Director and other senior officials.
Officials said preparations for the Census have been underway for the past six months. Trial runs have already been conducted in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, while boundaries of newly declared Notified Area Councils (NACs) and municipal areas have been finalised for enumeration purposes.
Training of census personnel will be conducted over the next three months. As per the plan, one enumerator will be deployed for every 200 households, with one supervisor overseeing six enumerators. Around one lakh census officials are expected to be engaged across Odisha, and each enumerator will receive a remuneration of Rs 25,000.
Citizens will also have the option of self-enumeration by submitting details through a designated website using an OTP-based mobile verification system. Officials said nearly 90 per cent of the Census work will be conducted online, with an emphasis on achieving complete accuracy in data collection.
Confirming the arrangements, Census Director Nikhil Pavan Kalyan said all 24 newly declared NACs and municipal corporations announced by the state government have been incorporated into the Census framework. Training of personnel will be carried out between January and April, he added.
