Surat: For the first time in the country, preparations for conducting a digital census have begun with a pilot project launched in Gujarat. On Monday, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel officially inaugurated the Census Gujarat website, marking the beginning of this digital census initiative.

On Tuesday, State Census Director Sujal Mayatra held discussions with officials and enumerators to review the progress of the ongoing pre-test. He also visited various areas of the Sagarampura Ward in Surat to inspect the field operations.

City Survey Ward No. 2 (Sagarampura) has been selected as the model ward for this pre-test. From November 10 to 15, supervisors are working on creating block boundaries through geo-tag mapping using the Block DLM application.

During his visit, Mayatra met with Municipal Deputy Commissioner Nidhi Siwach, Assistant Director Kinjal Darji, Special Officer of the Election and Census Department R.N. Modi, Charge Officer Gulab B. Gamit, and several supervisors and enumerators to discuss field-level activities.

He also visited Shalibhadra Apartment, Junda Street, Shivdas Zaverini Street, Desai Street, Chhapagar Street, and nearby areas to review on-ground work. During the inspection, he observed the entry process of 34 general and short questions being conducted digitally and reviewed its performance and benefits.

Guidance was provided to enumerators regarding data entry, block boundary formation, and the resolution of field-level challenges. The pre-test is expected to help streamline and strengthen Gujarat’s preparedness for the upcoming digital census. DeshGujarat