Surveyors draw people's ire

Kozhikode: A campaign against the National Survey Sampling Office (NSSO) is going on on Whatsapp, and its reach has culminated to a point where the government officials had a narrow escape from an assault.

State department of economics and statistics, which is carrying out the 76th round national sample survey for NSSO, has approached police against the slander.

Kottapally in Thiruvallur grama panchayat in Vadakara is one of the 26 centres chosen for the random survey in the district. On November 26, two department personnel visited a house here and asked questions.

Their visuals were caught on the CCTV of the house, and that footage along with a voice clip is fast spreading on WhatsApp.

The voice says that the survey team has some other intentions and should be wary.

“According to the clip, the survey targets women only houses and asks questions like how many men are at home, is husband working abroad etc.,” says Rajesh V., deputy director (DD) of the department, who filed a complaint with the Vadakara police.

According to him, the NSSO survey is an annual exercise based on family and this year the subject is people with disability.

“As the thrust is on family, the survey needs details about family members. Besides Kottappally, other survey centres include NIT, Koorachundu, Thiruvambady and Olavanna. We didn’t experience any issue from any other places,” he says.

The visuals can identify the officers, and according to Mr Rajesh, the officers are being stared at in public after the campaign.

“When another staff member went to the same spot after the incident, he was questioned and had a narrow escape,” he says. According to sources, the message is viral on expat community groups. The surveying at Kottapally has been shelved following the incident. Vadakara police has charges sections as per IT act.