Surat: The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has sought police action against the principal and vice-principal of S.D. Jain School for allegedly failing to report for Census 2027 duties, as the first phase of the nationwide digital census commenced across Gujarat on Monday.

The civic body has also issued notices to 890 Anganwadi workers who did not appear for census-related work. Officials said strict action would be taken against personnel who fail to participate in the national exercise.

The first phase of Census 2027 involves a door-to-door survey of households and families and will continue for the next 30 days. Surat city, with an estimated population of around 8.6 million (86 lakh), has been divided into 11,880 census blocks for the exercise.

To conduct the survey, the SMC has deployed 10,804 enumerators and appointed 1,935 supervisors. Officials said the process of requisitioning additional staff is underway to meet operational requirements.

The census is being conducted entirely through a digital platform, with enumerators and supervisors receiving extensive training from the Centre. Ahead of the field survey, a self-enumeration phase was conducted from May 17 to May 31, allowing residents to submit their details online.

Surat recorded the second-highest participation in the self-enumeration drive in Gujarat, with 37,714 residents completing the process. Ahmedabad topped the list with 68,168 participants.

Following the completion of the first phase, the second phase of Census 2027 is scheduled to be conducted between February 7 and February 28, 2027. The data collected during both phases will form part of the nationwide census exercise. DeshGujarat