Census hits map hurdle gujarat

Faulty maps miss houses, lead to unequal distribution of survey work

DILIP PATEL


Shifted to a new house recently but not emunerated yet though the first phase of the Census involving house survey is over half-way through in Ahmedabad? Blame it on erroneous survey maps supplied by Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space in Gandhinagar, not the surveyors.
The maps, known as blocks in Census parlance, may have missed out on spotting your new home. Reason: Use of old satellite data while making the blocks.
The Directorate of Census Operations Gujarat had given the responsibility of making the blocks, each comprising 125-150 houses, to Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space in 2008. Two years on, the institute handed over the maps, including all the wards of the city, to the Census directorate in January, 2010 with errors.
Several new houses were left out. Some societies were also not included in the maps, leading to confusion among the surveyors.
That’s not all. Unequal distribution of houses in blocks have left some surveyors jittery. While a lucky few have got blocks comprising just 60 houses, unfortunate ones have maps comprising 600 houses. Some maps do not bear the break-up of houses in a particular block.
Census in charge, Ahmedabad, DP Shah said: “We have received complaints on houses going missing in maps. A few blocks have more houses, some too few.”
Shah said the erroneous maps have overburdened some of the surveyors. “We have received complaints on unequal distribution of survey work. Officers in charge of areas concerned have been instructed to sort out these problems and divide the emuneration work equally.”
Shah said: “Possibly old satellite data was used while creating the maps. Several new houses have come up in the 43 old wards over the past three years. Mostly, they are missing in the blocks.”
Sources in the Census directorate said Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space was supposed to create maps linking every ward. “But it has failed to so. Naturally, a few societies have gone missing,” a source said.
Repeated attempts to contact Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space officials went in vain.