IAS officer Munish Moudgil marked as ‘refused’ in Greater Bengaluru Area caste survey

Bengaluru: Senior IAS officer Munish Moudgil, who is overseeing the ongoing caste survey in the Greater Bengaluru Area (GBA), was marked as having “refused” to participate in the survey after enumerators were unable to reach him at his residence on multiple visits. 

Sources said enumerators visited Moudgil’s Vasanthnagar residence at least three times as part of the field exercise. Each time, he was not at home and the door was locked. A busy officer in charge of caste survey, revenue generation, e-khata and electoral rolls, he was not available over phone either. 

Following standard protocol and on the instructions of their supervisor, the field staff eventually recorded the entry as a refusal in the official app. 

Speaking to DH, Moudgil clarified that he had already completed the process as citizens were already given the option to self-enumerate online. “I start my day at 8 am and return home only around 10 pm. Some mischievous people are trying to make this into an issue. I had no idea the enumerators had come to my house. Anyway, I’ve already entered all my details on the web portal,” he said. 

Following similar complaints from other working citizens, the GBA had recently extended the daily enumeration hours from 6 pm to 9 pm to allow a better strike rate. So far, Bengaluru features at the bottom of the list of districts in terms of progress achieved in survey.