Life in Telangana came to a standstill on Tuesday, with the state government conducting a massive household survey across the new state to get comprehensive information on citizens.

The exercise has attracted criticism from certain quarters.

Andhra Pradesh ministers and people living in Hyderabad were apprehensive about the survey as they thought it was an attempt to differentiate non-Telangana Andhra residents from the locals.  Laying to rest all such fears, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had earlier said that the exercise is intended to ensure that benefits of government schemes reach the targeted sections, as also ascertain their demands. 

Taking exception to certain critical comments made by opposition TDP and BJP regarding the controversial survey, Rao said the two parties were raising a false alarm.

Meanwhile, public transport buses stayed off the roads today. The government had earlier declared the day as a public holiday.

For the last two days, thousands of people took trains, buses and other modes of public transport to leave for their native places to get enrolled in the survey, which is covering a dozen districts.

Telangana natives living in cities like Mumbai and Surat are also returning to their home districts to participate in the survey.

According to the "check slip" posted on the website of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), data is sought about the number of family members in a household, water connection, property tax assessment, LPG and electricity connections, bank account, Aadhaar card, caste certificate, birth certificate, disability, vehicles and land owned by the family members.

The "intensive household survey", being compared with the general elections in size, would cover an estimated 84 lakh families living in Telangana, involving about 4 lakh government employees, including police personnel and teachers, according to a media release issued earlier. The enumerators have already made pre-survey visits to households in the run-up to the survey.