Govt staff to get only Rs 49 per day for census work!
SURAJ NANDREKAR
PANJIM, MARCH 31
A paltry Rs 49 per day is what the government employees will get for their services during the census survey, which gets underway throughout the country from April 1 to May 15.
In Goa, about 3515 government employees including the primary school teachers have been appointed for the census duty by the Mamlatdars and the Deputy Collectors.
What is shocking is that the employees would be paid a petty Rs 49 per day (Rs 48.88 to be exact) which comes to Rs 2200 for the whole 45 day period.
This is at a time when the minimum wages per day have been increased by the State government to Rs 150 per day.
Speaking to Herald on condition of anonymity some government employees claimed that they spend much more on the transport for the duty.
“We will spend much more to reach the place where we need to conduct survey,” said an employee.
Also, the employees stated they will have to work even on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays for which they would not be compensated.
However, the Census directorate feels it can do very little for the employees.
“The Census duty would be in addition to the duties already performed by the government employee,” Ashok Wasnik, Director Census Operations, Goa, told Herald here today.
He said the employees will have to either start the census work in the morning before 9 am or evening after 6 pm.
He said that while for the entire first phase (April 1 to May 15) the employees would be paid Rs 2200, the employees will get Rs 3300 for the second phase which begins in February 2011.
When pointed out that the honorarium paid seem to be very less, Wasnik said, “it is decided by the Central government and we cannot do anything in the matter.”
However, Wasnik maintained that the census duty is not as hectic as the election duty.
“The employees will have to do survey of only three houses per day on an average which is very less,” he said.
Giving details of the census programme, Wasnik stated, “during the 45 days field visits for house listing and housing census will be conducted.
Simultaneously, he added, preparation for the National Population Register (NPR) will also be conducted.
“For the purpose of this, the whole state of Goa has been divided into 3013 enumeration blocks. One enumeration block will have 120 to 150 households,” he said.
Further, he said, each in numeration block will have one enumerator, which means each one will have to cover 3 to 4 houses per day.
He said there would be one supervisor above every six enumerator. There would be a total of 502 supervisors.
“During the survey each individual (any family member can answer on his/ her behalf) will have to answer 14 question for NPR and 35 questions for housing and house listing,” Wasnik stated.
Asked about the penal action threatened against the employees, who fail to attend the survey, Wasnik replied, “the provision is already there in the Act, there is nothing new in it.”
