ISLAMABAD: The government has announced that the ongoing process of conducting the 7th population and housing census will be completed by May 15 (Monday) and the operation will not be extended further.
Through a letter to all the provincial census commissioners, Azad Jammu and Kashmir; Gilgit-Baltistan and Chief Commissioner Islamabad, the Chief Statistician stated that the census field operation for the 7th Population and Housing Census was extended for two weeks till 15th May, 2023 for verification and coverage of the leftover structures/ houses only in the selected districts.
They have been advised to speed up the verification exercise to complete it positively till the last date of 15th May, 2023.
In this regard, it is mentioned here that the field operations of Census-2023 commenced from 1st March, 2023 with initial completion date of 4th April, 2023, which have already been extended five times for complete enumeration/ coverage of the leftover structures/ houses.
The last extension granted in pursuance of the discussion/ decisions made in the 12th meeting of Census Monitoring Committee held on 28th April, 2023 was for two weeks till 15th May, 2023.
The letter mentioned that the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has fully facilitated the provincial governments by sharing the disaggregated information/data regarding the under enumeration and deputation of staff from PBS HQ.
During the 13th meeting of the Census Monitoring Committee, it noted that it was decided that the census field operation will not be further extended beyond this date due to its linkage with delimitation for upcoming general elections.
Furthermore, it added that in the meeting of Demographers held on 12th May, 2023, it has inter alia been recommended that the field operations of the Census-2023 may not further be extended, mainly due to the continuous births, deaths and migration dynamics of the society which may badly impact the results if not prudently taken care of during the census field operations.
It further mentioned that since PBS is stressing since long for completion of the field operation and due to the fact that PBS after the necessary approval of CCI need to hand over the final census results to Election Commission of Pakistan at the earliest for delimitation purposes for the upcoming general elections.
“It is, therefore, conveyed that the census field operation will not further be extended and the provincial governments must complete census enumeration/ verification till the stipulated date of 15th May, 2023,” it added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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