Visakhapatnam: The state government’s ambitious ‘Smart Pulse Survey’ or the ‘AP Praja Sadhikara Survey’ to obtain the socioeconomic data of 1.4 crore households in the state is not going the way as planned. Technical and operational glitches are blocking the field-level enumerators deployed across the state from achieving the very purpose of the survey. Some enumerators complained that the software (even after it being updated to version 2.4.2 from the original 2.0) is unresponsive and slow, and sometimes the link to the server is cut unexpectedly.
Even after addressing some technical issues over the last few days, the enumerators were limited to collecting the data of 6.85 lakh people as of 6 pm on Tuesday from the start of the survey (1.58 lakh people contacted on Tuesday itself). At this pace, it is estimated that the enumerators will need another 250 days to complete the survey. Internet outages due to poor signals in the remote villages have also been a hurdle in front of the enumerators.
Fearing that they may lose the benefits from the state like white ration cards, pension etc., many people are apprehensive about giving the details. Due to absence of any prior information in parts of the state, enumerators find doors locked when they reach a residence. Altogether, about 20,000 enumerators have been deployed across the state, drawn from various departments, including Civil Supplies, Revenue, Rural Development, Social Welfare, Agriculture, etc.
