Pune: After extending the ongoing survey to examine the backwardness of the Maratha community and the Open category by two days, the State Backward Classes Commission has made it clear that there will be no more extension. The survey should be completed by Friday's end. The Commission has also directed all district collectors and municipal commissioners not to seek any further extension. Therefore, it is clear that the survey will not be extended.
As per the directions of the State Backward Classes Commission, a survey to check the backwardness of the Maratha community was started across the state from January 23 to 31. It is also collecting information on the backwardness of the Open category. However, the survey was hampered by some technical issues initially in the app developed by the Gokhale Institute. So the pace of the survey was very slow in the first three to four days. Meanwhile, the survey did not start as the names of several villages and large cities with municipalities in the state were not included in the app.
The survey gained some momentum after the Commission directed the Gokhale Institute to address the technical issues immediately. However, the State Backward Classes Commission extended the eight-day deadline for the survey by two days after it was found that there was not enough time for the survey. Accordingly, the Commission has given clear instructions that the survey should be completed on February 2. However, in major municipal corporations like Pune, Mumbai, Thane, Kolhapur, and Sangli, only 75 to 80 percent of the survey work has been done. The municipal commissioner had asked the state government to extend the deadline for the survey by another two days. The survey was reviewed by the state government on Thursday.
The app will be closed at 11:59 p.m. The commission has now directed all concerned district collectors and municipal commissioners to complete the survey on Friday under any circumstances. The app, which was developed for the survey, will remain open only till 11.59 pm after which it will be discontinued, the Commission said.