Int’l observers terms census process as satisfactory: Census Commissioner
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ISLAMABAD: On the eve of launching second phase of 6th Population Census on Tuesday, Chief Census Commissioner, Asif Bajwa Monday informed the media persons that international independent observers had termed Population Census process as satisfactory.
"Six teams of observers visited different places and interacted with people and in their initial report termed the census process satisfactory," Bajwa said while addressing a press conference here.
He was flanked by Secretary Statistics Division, Dr. Shujat Ali and other officials of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
He said that the observers who were arranged by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) did not point out any major flaw in the whole process and were satisfied.
However, he said that they were of the view that the media campaign launched by the PBS was not much effective.
Bajwa informed that the first phase of the process completed successfully and expressed the hope that the second phase would also complete in the same manner.
He said that the census was completed in 63 districts and most of the census material had been transported to Bureau headquarter in Islamabad while material from Gilgit and Quetta was expected to reach here Tuesday morning.
Bajwa said that the people fully cooperated with the Census staff during the first phase and expressed the hope that they would continue this coordination in the second phase also.
He said that the cooperation and coordination between the census teams was also unprecedented.
He informed the media person that honoraria was being distributed among the staff who were engaged with first Phase of census.
He said that during the first phase as many as 5000 complaints were received which were addressed simultaneously, adding that there were also some big blocks having more than 200 house, so the additional staff was placed on duty to carry on the exercise smoothly.
He said that in FATA, only Orakzai agency was covered during the first phase while the process in the other six would be conducted during second phase.
Out of 8 enumerators who were lost in Balochistan, 7 had returned while one was yet to be discovered, he added.
The Census Commissioner said said that there were 54 villages inside Pakistan where Afghan refugees lived and the data of these villages would be collected through the refugee management while the Afghanis living in other part of the country would be counted normally, however they would be registered as non-Pakistanis.
He said that a total budget of Rs 18.6 billion had been released, which included Rs 6 billion for Army, Rs 6 billion for PBS and another Rs 6.5 billion for transportation of census material.
Giving details about the upcoming census phase, he said, as many as 87 districts would be covered during second phase.
During the second phase the headcount would be conducted in twenty one (21) census districts of Punjab, twenty one (21) districts of Sindh, seventeen (17) districts of Balochistan and twelve (12) districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, official sources said.
In addition, the census would also be conducted in six (6) districts of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), five (5) districts of Gilgit Baltistan, five (5) districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and one district of Federal Capital, Islamabad, the sources added.
As per the activity calendar, the census teams will start House Listing Operation, for the first block under Phase-II, on April 25, which would continue for three days up to April 27.
This would be followed by filling up of form-2 for next ten days, from April 28 to May 7, while the enumeration of homeless population would be conducted on May 8.
The house listing operation for the second block under second phase of census will be conducted for three days from May 11 to May 13, followed by filling up form-2 for next ten days from May 14 to May 23 while the homeless would be counted on May 25. (APP)
