`Excuse me, will you look at the crack in my wall?'

`Excuse me, will you look at the crack in my wall?'
MEGHDOOT SHARON

AHMEDABAD, FEBRUARY 14: Census enumerators in Ahmedabad are finding out what it means to conduct a headcount in the wake of an earthquake.

Many of the buildings they enter are deserted, and in others where people have stayed put, residents demand that they examine the cracks in the walls. The shoe's on the other foot this time: it's enumerators who are being interrogated on what the government has done for rehabilitating the quake affected.

News from the Epicentre

» Full coverage of the Gujarat earthquake
» Donate online for relief

``They ask us all kinds of questions instead of providing information,'' says Deepak Patel, an enumerator at Danilimda in Ahmedabad. Many sought his opinion on the cracks in their buildings.

After all, say residents, the enumerators are government servants who should be tackling such ``important'' issues instead of asking people how many bedrooms they have in their house.

``Most of the people I've visited keep asking me what's the need for census work when relief is the priority. Some are understanding, but many don't realise this is a job that has to be done,'' says Mayuresh Desai, an enumerator who has been carrying out a headcount at Vasna block since February 9.

In slums and chawls, enumerators say they've been gheraoed and asked what the government is doing to rehabilitate them. They have also been told in no uncertain terms that the census can be taken up later.

At Danapith Pol, a woman who was approached by an enumerator wanted to know if the government was compiling a list of those alive and dead in the earthquake. ``None of us in this chawl has died,'' she told the enumerator. Even as the enumerator tried to explain that he wanted specifics on the number of residents in the family, their names and other details, the woman kept telling him that no official had even visited the area to inspect the cracks.

At the Millatnagar slum, residents surrounded the enumerator and demanded to know whether he was from the civil supplies department. Not one bit interested in answering census related questions, they instead wanted duplicate copies of their ration cards that were destroyed in a fire that ravaged the slum some months ago.

Authorities in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) handling the headcount admit that census work in the city was ``not up to the mark'', but they hoped things would get better.

``Census work progressed slowly in the first few days because of the quake. But we expect it to pick up in the next fortnight,'' says D.P. Shah, deputy city census officer. Since the counting has started, it cannot be aborted halfway to be taken up at a later stage, he pointed out.