According to them, the list cannot be published before November. Incidentally, this is the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s (KMC) sixth attempt at compiling a BPL list.

About 400 civic body employees have been entrusted with the job of conducting the survey. Most of the surveyors are teachers of KMC-run schools and employees of the Assessment Collection Department.

Their job involves collecting BPL forms from the 15 borough offices and conducting a detailed survey of households in the city. Yet none of the surveyors have been allotted an area of work. Clueless about their role, most are sitting idle in the municipal offices.

“There is no proper infrastructure to conduct the survey. A 50-year-old teacher of a Kolkata Municipal Corporation Primary School (KMCP) is one of the surveyors. How is it possible for an old lady like her to conduct the survey?” said a surveyor, also an officer of the department.

The state Urban Development Authority (SUDA), which is in charge of finalising the list, has slammed KMC for delaying the survey work. Out of the 113 municipalities spread in 18 districts of the state, there are six municipal corporations. Till date, KMC is the only municipal corporation in the state that has failed to submit the final BPL list to SUDA.