LUDHIANA — Following the conclusion of the digital self-enumeration phase, census enumerators across Punjab are officially launching a massive door-to-door house-listing campaign. Starting this Friday, government personnel will visit households state-wide to collect critical demographic and infrastructural data, a process scheduled to continue through June 30.
Local authorities have urged residents to cooperate with visiting officials and keep key information ready regarding household assets, utilities, and structural details.
Low Turnout for Digital Self-Enumeration
The first-of-its-kind digital self-enumeration initiative—which allowed citizens to independently upload their details via a dedicated web portal or mobile app—closed with a surprisingly low turnout.
Only 150,000 residents across the state utilized the online facility. This accounts for a mere 0.54% of Punjab’s total population, based on metrics from the 2011 census.
An analytical breakdown of the digital phase highlights uneven participation across major cities:
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Ludhiana: Led the state with approximately 25,000 completed online submissions.
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Mohali: Followed with around 10,000 digital completions.
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Remaining Districts: Exhibited highly limited public response, prompting the necessity for rigorous physical field operations.
33 Questions: What Residents Need to Prepare
During the door-to-door house-listing exercise, enumerators will administer a standardized questionnaire containing 33 specific questions. To ensure a smooth process, families are advised to have details on the following categories readily available:
| Category | Information Required |
| Household Assets | Total number of vehicles, ownership of laptops or computers, and internet access. |
| Basic Utilities | Primary source of drinking water, availability of kitchen space, and type of cooking fuel (LPG/PNG connections). |
| Housing & Infrastructure | Building number, current structural condition, and specific materials used for the floors, walls, and roof. |
| Family Composition | Name of the head of the household, total number of family members, and the number of married couples residing. |
Administrative Readiness and Deadlines
While the Central Government has set a definitive deadline of September 30, 2026, to wrap up the first phase of the national census, Punjab’s Department of Local Government has proactively fast-tracked its timeline, aiming for a complete field wrap-up by the end of June.
“Any technical hitches or operational difficulties have already been ironed out during successful pilot pre-tests conducted in Amritsar, Jalandhar, and Malerkotla,” a senior department official stated.
To enforce compliance and manage the massive logistical scale of the operation, top-tier administrative and technical officers—including Additional, Joint, and Assistant Commissioners, alongside Town Planners and Superintending Engineers—have been legally deployed to supervise the field teams under the strict mandates of the Census Act, 1948.
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