Bahawalnagar’s population ‘decreases’ by 145k people

AC summons enumerators to her office for important meeting

BAHAWALNAGAR:

During the digital population census, the population of 240 blocks of Bahawalnagar decreased by 146,242 people.

The enumerators and their supervisors who had been tasked to collect census data in these blocks were summoned for a meeting at the assistant commissioner of Bahawalnagar’s office on Thursday.

The Express Tribune has learnt that efforts are being made to rectify the situation.

This correspondent visited the assistant commissioner’s office for her comments. However, the official refused to make any comments.

Meanwhile, a supervisor of the enumerators who had come to the assistant commissioner’s office for the meeting told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity that during the much touted digital population census, the enumerators were allegedly denied the facility of transport to do their job.

The source alleged that due to unavailability of transport services to facilitate the enumerators to reach the households for counting their members, many of his fellow supervisors chose to, what the source alleged, record fraudulent entries in their devices while sitting in their offices.

The source said that the cost that the people of the district had to pay due to this alleged misconduct was that the total population of the district, as far as the census data was concerned, had decreased instead of increasing.

According to the data of the 240 blocks of Bahawalnagar, the population has decreased by 146,242 people compared with the previous census.

Another supervisor, who had also been present at the assistant commissioner’s office, also spoke with The Express Tribune on the condition that he was not to be named. The supervisor said that they (the supervisors and enumerators of the affected blocks) had been called to the assistant commissioner’s office to, what he said, “correct the figures”.

He, too, alleged that the administrative officers of the district did not provide the census staff transport facility.

It was reported on these pages a couple of days ago that show-cause notices had been issued to supervisors and enumerators and that census in Bahawalnagar remained fraught with problems despite an extension in the deadline.

A schoolteacher, Kashif Jahangir, who had been working as an enumerator in Bahawalnagar, was issued a show-cause notice by the assistant commissioner for recording wrong number of people living in houses.

Jahangir had registered four people in House Number 64 in his block, while seven people resided in the house.

Additionally, one person was registered in House Number 77 whereas three people lived there.

The number of people in house numbers 87, 88, 96 and 99 were also wrongly entered.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2023.