Aim: The descriptive community based study aimed to estimate the prevalence of avoidable blindness and identify barriers to the uptake of cataract surgical services in a rural community. Methodology: A cross sectional sample of 1,450 subjects aged 50 years and older was selected by a multistage cluster sampling method from a total of 29 clusters in a door to door survey. Clusters were selected from the sampling frame with probability proportional to size. Household selection was by compact segment method. Visual Acuity measurement was performed on every subject but ocular examination was limited to subjects with Visual Acuity of <6/18 (pinhole) to determine the causes of visual impairment. Data were collected using the World Health Organization (WHO) rapid assessment of avoidable blindness (RAAB) questionnaire. Interviews and discussions were also held to identify the barriers to the uptake of cataract surgical services. Data analysis was done using the RAAB software package for Windows programmed in Visual FoxPro version 7.0 and statistical tests were done using Statistical Package for Social Science, version 16.0 (SPSS, Inc , Chicago III).