The houselisting exercise under Phase I of the National Census 2027, which was originally scheduled to conclude on May 15, has been extended across the State by a week and will now continue till May 22.

The exercise was also carried out in Delhi, Odisha, and several other States during the same period, from April 16 to May 15. However, enumeration has been completed in those States. 

Officials told The Hindu that the exercise was extended to allow more time to verify the status of locked houses and revisit households where residents were unavailable during the initial survey. 

They said the process also took longer because enumerators were simultaneously handling other official duties. This also delayed the entry and updating of the collected data on the census portal. 

The houselisting exercise within the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) limits covers an estimated 51.86 lakh census houses across the city, based on Bescom data. As of May 15 — the original deadline for completing the exercise — officials had covered 47.61 lakh dwellings. 

The civic bodies have now set a “daily” target of covering 1.06 lakh houses across the five corporations to ensure the exercise is completed within the extended deadline.

The “houselisting and house census”, which began on April 16, records only the data on housing conditions, availability of basic amenities, and other household-related details as part of the preparatory process for the upcoming census.

The challenge has been more pronounced within the GBA limits, where officials admitted that the survey faced repeated delays as many residents, especially in Bengaluru South and East limits, were not available when enumerators visited, while several houses were found locked.  

Officials from the civic body said “mop-up round” drives are now being conducted every evening and on holidays to revisit locked and vacant houses to ensure that no household was left out of the Census exercise. “Each house will be visited up to three times before it is finally marked as locked,” an official added.

The official added that the exercise also faced initial delays as many enumerators did not report for duty in the early stages.

“While the survey picked up pace in the following days, completing data entry and related formalities is taking additional time. BLOs from other departments were not allowed to be roped in, while enumerators have also been engaged in other routine responsibilities, including Special Intensive Revision (SIR) voter mapping and civic body work linked to monsoon preparedness,” the official said, adding that teachers, who formed a majority of the enumerators, were also not thoroughly doing their work as the timetable clashed with peak academic season for them.

So far, around 1.25 lakh houses have been found locked, while data collection for 25,676 houses remained only partially complete.

Enumerators had been directed to revisit these households before they were officially marked as locked. In several cases, houses with electricity meters still in place made it difficult to determine whether they were occupied or vacant, requiring enumerators to make repeated visits for verification, officials said.