Pushpa Naik, one of the community workers involved in the programme, said: 'Initially people were hesitant to listen to us but slowly they began to trust us and started coming to us with their problems. For instance, one women had no idea how to avail the widow's pension so I helped her fill the form and submit it at the right place.'

The survey also enabled the enrolment of 3,000 beneficiaries to the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana.

Although they have got their identification numbers now, very soon all those people surveyed will be given their own biometric identification cards which will help them get benefits without any hassle.

N.C. Saxena, commissioner of Supreme Court on Right to Food, who is a part of the project, said: 'The BPL (below poverty line) cards that were supposed to help people below the poverty line to access benefits was not a success.

'But after this survey, the biometric identification cards will actually help single out those who genuinely need help,' he said.

'This will further go a long way in helping the national programme on national identity cards and can be integrated into that,' Mehta said.

In order to access if the schemes are actually benefitting the entitlement holders, a team of experts will analyse the Family Development Index (FDI) over a period of time.

Hailing the efforts, Saxena said: 'This programme should be adopted by the ministry of urban development so that something similar can be done in other states.'