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Over 100 govt staff seek medical exemption from Census duty; CMO to form special board
Prayagraj's administration faces over 100 medical exemption requests from government employees for Census 2027 duties; a medical board will assess claims.
The district administration in Prayagraj has seen a surge of requests from government employees seeking exemption from Census 2027 duties on medical grounds soon after assignments were made. In response, the district census officer asked the chief medical officer (CMO) to constitute a medical board to examine the claims at the earliest.
Vinita Singh, additional district magistrate (finance and revenue) and district census officer, stated that the census work involves approximately 14,400 government employees in the district. Nearly 80% of these employees are teachers from the primary and secondary education departments. Staff have been deployed across eight tehsils, eight Nagar Panchayats and 80 wards of the Municipal Corporation.
“However, within a week of duty allocation, more than 100 medical certificates reached my office citing inability to perform the task due to various health issues,” Singh said. She noted that these employees were assigned duties near their place of work but still report medical issues.
The employees, engaged as enumerators for about a month of additional work from May 22 to June 20, 2026, will receive an honorarium of ₹10,000.
The reasons cited for exemption include cardiac ailments, kidney-related problems, thyroid disorders, cervical issues, migraines and slip disc conditions. Singh stressed that genuine cases should not be rejected without proper medical examination.
“That is why the CMO has been asked to form a medical board comprising specialists from different fields to assess the severity of each case. Exemptions will be granted only if the claims are found to be genuine,” she added.
According to Singh, most medical exemption requests originated from the rural areas of Soraon, Phulpur, and Handia tehsils, as well as various wards of the Municipal Corporation. Detailing the geographical spread, she noted: “The lowest number of applications came from Koraon, Meja and Bara tehsils, and not a single medical exemption request was received from staff posted in the Cantonment Board area.”
CMO Dr A K Tiwari confirmed that an existing medical board would examine all forwarded certificates. He stated, “Each case will be assessed carefully and a report on the genuineness of the medical claims will be submitted to the district census officer.”
