LAHORE, Mar 15 (APP): The first phase of sixth population census started here in 16 districts of the province on Wednesday under strict security.
Provincial Census Commissioner, Arif Anwar Baloch along with Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Sardar Sher Ali Gorchani inaugurated the population census by numbering 001 to Punjab Assembly Building while Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif supported the process by marking his own residence in Lahore in presence of enumerator.
Punjab CM also advised the masses to cooperate with the staff of the population census and provide them correct and accurate data.
PCC Arif, Anwar Baloch visited various areas of the city including Guru Manget, Makkah Colony, MM Alam Road, Gulberg and Model Town to review the pace of census process and problems of the sensus staff.
He also appealed the people to support the census process by considering it a national responsibility for better future planning.
Talking to APP, Arif Anwar Baloch said that as many as 5070 vehicles had been hired while an amount of Rs 830 million had been distributed among the deputy census commissioners for the first phase of census, which would continue till April 15.
” More than 35,000 enumerators will collect data during the exercise while all the logistics and census staff have already been deployed in all these census districts to complete this important exercise in a transparent, smooth and secure atmosphere,” he added.
He said that districts in Punjab, where census was under progress in the first phase including Jhang, Chiniot, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, Lahore, Hafizabad, Narowal, Sialkot, Vehari, Bahawalpur, Pakpattan and Attock.
Mianwali, Bhakkar, Khushab, Sargodha, Chakwal, Jhelum, Sahiwal, Okara, Khanewal, Multan, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib, Kasur, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan, Lodhran, Rawalpindi, Cholistan and Islamabad will be covered in second phase.
Baloch said that an army personnel would be attached with every enumerator for this exercise.
He said that for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the transgender would be counted in the census and the bureau had also established a helpline to provide
assistance and access to people to inform in case they were not counted in the census.
Provincial control room has been established in the office of Provincial Census Commissioner for monitoring of the process. Three telephone lines have been provided to the staff which will work round-the-clock to facilitate the citizen.
Complete record of the complaints and resolutions will be compiled and the staff after resolving the issue, will inform the complainant, he added.
It may be mentioned here that as per the census calendar, during the first phase the census, would be conducted in 16 districts of the Punjab province, eight districts of Sindh, 14 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 15 districts of Balochistan, five districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and five districts of Gilgit-Baltistan.
