Sixth census gets under way in 16 districts of the province

Punjab chief minister says it is every citizen’s responsibility to provide accurate data

LAHORE: The long awaited and eagerly anticipated sixth Population and Housing Census kicked off in 63 districts of the country, including 16 in Punjab. Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir were also among the areas where enumeration was taking place on Wednesday.

Punjab Census Commissioner Arif Anwar Baloch, along with Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Sardar Sher Ali Khan Gorchani, inaugurated the national census drive in the province by marking index no001 on the provincial assembly building. Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif also marked index no006 in the presence of census officials at his residence in the Model Town neighbourhood.

Speaking to the occasion, Shehbaz advised the masses to cooperate with population census staff and provide officials with correct and accurate information as it was the national responsibility of every citizen of Pakistan. He underscored that the availability of authentic data was necessary for effective planning to ensure a brighter future for the country.



On the orders of the chief census commissioner, a special monitoring and control room had been established at the official’s office. This control room will remain operational 24/7 till the end of the national headcount drive.

The commissioner, who remained in the field to monitor activities, also urged citizens to extend maximum cooperation with the census staff. He explained the data would later be used to distribute national resources and enable economic development of the country.



Baloch pointed out that it was people’s mandatory responsibility to the nation to provide accurate data to enumerators.

Lahore Division Commissioner Abdullah Khan Sumbal inspected census activities in the provincial capital and expressed his satisfaction over the arrangements. Education and other government department officials, he said, were collecting data for the Population and Housing Census 2017.

Sumbal disclosed that Lahore district had been divided into 184 census charges, 867 census circles and 6,746 census blocks. Lahore Division, meanwhile, was divided into 289 census charges, 1,624 census circles and 13,626 census blocks.



The district administration is also actively taking part in the headcount. Lahore Deputy Commissioner Sumair Ahmed Syed said he was personally monitoring operations in the provincial capital, while assistant commissioners, officials of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and the Pakistan Army were monitoring activities on the tehsil level.

Sumair also visited various areas of the city to monitor the performance of census staff and marked index numbers on a couple of houses by hand.

He said the first phase (from March 15 to March 29) of the Population and Housing Census 2017 had been initiated. During this time, housing and population data would be collected, while in the second phase (from March 31 to April 15) details of family members would be collected.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2017.