THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Local Administration Department has initiated steps to accelerate the survey for identifying families below the poverty line (BPL) in the State.

A comprehensive BPL list will be submitted to the Union Rural Development Ministry within three months.

Department sources told The Hindu that validation of survey data in the rural areas had been completed. The tabulation process would be completed soon. Since the BPL list was imperative for issuing ration cards and also for providing assistance under various schemes through the local self-government institutions, the Government had decided to extend it to the municipal and corporation limits too.

The survey in the urban areas too would be completed within a specific period, sources said.

The survey, which began in 2002 under the aegis of the previous UDF Government on the basis of the census report of 2001, was moving at a snail's pace. The survey data compiled during the period had a lot of inconsistencies too.

Hence, the LDF Government was forced to start the process almost afresh and it had been verifying the available data and correcting it in a meticulous manner.

Kudumbashree units which had a strong presence at the grassroots level were roped in for conducting the survey. Anganwadi and literacy workers and SC/ST promoters were roped in for completing it in a time-bound manner.

Officers of the Matsya Bhavan and the Matsyafed too were included for conducting the survey in the panchayats in coastal areas. ]All of them were trained for completing the process without lapses. Ward-level committees with panchayat presidents as chairpersons were formed for monitoring the process.

Since the list of BPL families is the basis for securing funds for Centrally sponsored schemes, the Government is working on it in an uncompromising manner. After completing the list, it will be displayed on the panchayat notice board and also presented before the grama sabhas for clearance, sources said.

Meanwhile, Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said in Delhi that the States had been warned against delaying the BPL list. If the States failed to furnish the list, the Centre would not allot funds for Centrally sponsored schemes, he had said.

So far only Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Andman and Nicobar had submitted the list to the Centre.

Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal had informed that they had prepared the list and would be displaying it on the panchayat notice board soon, the Minister said.

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