Maratha quota: 39 lakh households in Mumbai to be surveyed

BMC headquarters. File Pic

The civic employees will visit as many as 39 lakh households in Mumbai during an ongoing survey of the Marathas and other general category communities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Wednesday, reported the PTI.

The survey, which began on Tuesday, was being conducted on the directions of the Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes for assessing the social, economic and educational backwardness of the Maratha community.

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The drive has been undertaken even as Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange and thousands of his supporters are on their way to Mumbai to launch a fresh agitation for reservation for the Maratha community from January 26.

The BMC has roped in about 30,000 of its around 92,000 employees for the seven-day survey that has to be completed before the end of this month, said additional municipal commissioner Sudhakar Shinde, as per the PTI.

Appealing people to extend cooperation to the enumerators as the survey is to be completed within deadline, he also made it clear that taking part in the exercise is voluntary, and the data collected will remain completely safe.

"Personal data is very safe. Personal data won't be available to anyone," Shinde said, adding that at least four questions will be asked to those who are already taking benefit of reservation. For those who are not beneficiaries of any quota, there are around 160 questions in the questionnaire.

On Tuesday, the enumerators faced some trouble while gaining entry into housing societies and a glitch in the software also caused problems, yet about 2.65 lakh households were surveyed, Shinde noted, the news agency reported.

Of 30,000-odd surveyors, only 17,345 enumerators were given user IDs and passwords for using the software on Tuesday which caused some issues, as per a BMC release.

Each employee has been given the target of surveying 150 households, it said.

Meanwhile, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday claimed 54 lakh records have been found in Maharashtra so far identifying members of the Maratha community as Kunbi (OBC sub-caste) and demanded immediate issuance of caste certificates, reported the PTI.

Manoj Jarange set out on a march towards Mumbai from Jalna district in Maharashtra on January 20 with thousands of supporters, demanding that the state government grant quota to Marathas under the OBC grouping in jobs and education.

(with PTI inputs)