ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has demanded the remaining Rs12 billion for conducting the 7th Housing and Population Census in the country.
This was confirmed by the Member Support Services/ Resource Management PBS, Muhammad Sarwar Gondal, while talking to Business Recorder, here on Monday.
“We have moved a summary to the Planning Ministry, which would be further submitted to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet for approval. After the ECC’s approval, the federal cabinet’s ratification would be required for the release of the funds,” Gondal added.
He further said that the PBS required Rs34 billion for conducting the first digital census in the country, of which, Rs10 billion were already available. Later the Bureau sought Rs24 billion from the federal government, where Rs12 billion were released. Replying to a question, Gondal said that there would be issues if funds were not released in time.
Replying to a question about the expected delay in completing the census, Gondal said that currently, all things are as per schedule, and 160 million have been counted so far with an average time consumption of 25.5 minutes per house. He said that the current deadline for submitting data is April 4. However, in case of some sudden rise, changes, building, it may take a few more days.
After getting funds from the federal government earlier, the PBS disbursed Rs4.14 billion to Punjab province, out of which, Rs2257.823 million for training and remuneration and 1882.475 million for the hiring of vehicles.
Further Rs2.005 billion was disbursed to Sindh province, out of which, Rs1,076.100 million was in training and remuneration and 928.900 million in the hiring of vehicles.
Rs783 million was released for Balochistan province, out of which, Rs352.605 million was for training and remuneration charges and Rs430.500 million for the hiring of vehicles.
The government released Rs1.36 billion to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, out of which, Rs716.636 million for training and remuneration charges and Rs642.460 hiring of vehicles.
The government also disbursed Rs250.424 million which includes Rs101.324 million for training and remuneration and Rs149.100million for the hiring of vehicles.
Further, the government disbursed Rs84.929 million to Gilgit-Baltistan, out of which, Rs33.689 million was for training and remuneration and Rs51.240 for the hiring of vehicles. The government also disbursed Rs72.915 million for Islamabad, out of which, Rs40.820 million was for training and remuneration and Rs32.095 million for the hiring of vehicles.
Around 86,000 army officers and personnel, besides police are providing security to the field enumerators. The field operation would be completed in one month, while the results would be released on April 30, 2023, after completing data analysis.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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