Over 3.5 lakh govt and BMC employees to undertake Maratha survey from Jan 23

Over 3.5 lakh people, among them over 1.5 lakh government employees will be engaged in the survey to establish the ‘backwardness’ of the Maratha community

MUMBAI: Over 3.5 lakh people, among them over 1.5 lakh government employees from the revenue machinery in rural areas and municipal corporations in urban areas, will be engaged in the survey being carried out to establish the ‘backwardness’ of the Maratha community in order to clear the path for granting it reservation. The time period granted for this by the Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes (MSCBC) is nine days (January 23 to 31), and consequently the routine working of government offices, including BMC wards, is expected to take a hit.

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An official from the revenue department said that the employees had been directed to concentrate on the survey and keep everything else on hold. “It is true that the routine essential work related to various departments at the district and municipal corporation level will be affected for the next two weeks,” he said. “Employees engaged in emergency services have, however, been exempted from the survey work.”

Municipal commissioner I S Chahal said there were orders from the government to involve the BMC staff. “It is our duty to obey the GR,” he said. “In Mumbai, both the collectorates have limited staff, and hence we are helping out. Our personnel have done surveys earlier. We will do this survey too.” BMC sources said that more than 50,000 personnel would be involved in the survey.

A BMC deputy commissioner pointed out that apart from the survey, parliamentary, assembly and municipal elections, where staffers have to do poll duty, were also to take place in 2024. “Our routine work will be affected a lot this year,” he said. A senior officer of the health department added that apart from staffers, the BMC had a huge contingent of Asha workers, primary health centre workers and community health volunteers. “Our anti-malaria and anti-dengue operations will be affected,” he said. “All our medical officers in every BMC ward will also be taking part in the survey work.”

The training of the enumerators is being undertaken by the Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics, Pune. The institute will first coach trainers on January 20 at the district level, after which the trainers, one for every 300 enumerators, will train the latter on January 21 and 22 at the tehsil level. Enumerators will be given a remuneration of ₹100 per household while the trainers will get ₹10,000. The state government has made a budgetary allocation of ₹360 crore for the survey.

Chandralal Meshram, a member of MSCBC, said that the enumerators would upload the information gathered from households through an app provided to them. “The sampling will be random, covering Maratha and other communities from the open categories,” he said.

The government is expected to produce the MSCBC report in the Supreme Court during the hearing of the curative petition it has filed on Maratha reservation. The SC had scheduled the hearing for January 24, and by the time the actual hearing begins, the survey will be over.