Census officials visit a house in Rawalpindi, while an enumerator fills a form in Muzaffarabad. PHOTOS: AGENCIES
ABBOTTABAD/ MIRPUR/ GILGIT: Along with the rest of the country, the first phase of census kicked off in parts of Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Hazara division on Wednesday
Over 2,000 census staff went across five districts of Hazara division for house counting under tight security.
The first phase of the census in Hazara division includes Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Torghar and Battagram districts. Census in the two newly created districts within Kohistan were deferred till the second phase.
Police mobiles and army troops kept patrolling different parts of their assigned areas in the five districts of Hazara division. Police and army were backed by FC troops as well.
Officials at the office of Hazara Commissioner said that the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics had deployed around 2,497 officials for the census exercise.
They include 2,072 census enumerators and 425 supervisors who went door-to-door to count homes and buildings.
Moreover, the five districts have been divided into 3,747 Census block and 39 circles across the selected districts.
1,246 blocks in G-B
The census formally kicked off in Gilgit-Baltistan on Wednesday. The region has been divided into two parts over two phases for the head counting exercise. Each part would consist of five districts.
Kicking off the census in Gilgit on Wednesday morning, Gilgit division commissioner Sibtain Ahmed noted that staff for conducting census had been trained and that all arrangements were in place.
“The staff had a two-month training already and we hope it culminates properly,” Ahmed told media.
Census activities were conducted without any incident on Wednesday.
In the first phase which started today, a housing survey would be conducted in five districts of Gilgit-Baltistan including Gilgit, Nagar, Ganchay, Skardu, and Ghizir.
In the second phase, the census would be conducted in Hunza, Diamer, Astore, Shigar and Kharmang.
Meanwhile, G-B Census Coordinator Muhammad Shafiq said that there w ere 1,246 blocks and 141 circles have been made for the census in the selected districts.
As many as 847 census teams are participating in the exercise.
Head counting in AJK
The census kicked off in five districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Wednesday.
AJK Census Commissioner Raja Tariq Mahmood on Wednesday said that all necessary arrangements had been completed for holding the first phase of the census.
The first phase includes five districts of AJK including Kotli and Bhimber districts of Mirpur division, Sudhanhoti and Bagh districts of Poonch division and Muzaffarabad district.
The first phase of the census is expected to be completed by March 29, Mahmood said, adding that the second phase would commence after a 10-day gap in the remaining five districts of AJK.
In the first phase, 1,900 census staff comprising officials of the education, revenue departments and the army would visit door to door in the 2,022 blocks of the five districts.
Mahmood said that anyone member of a family living in a house could provide details about their family to the census teams.
He urged that details of expatriate members of the family, apart from registered Afghan refugees, should also be declared.
He warned that providing false information would lead to severe penalties of up to six months in jail and a fine of Rs50,000 for the concerned family member or the designated head of the family.
WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP
Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2017.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ