Arrangements for population census in KP, Fata completed

All arrangements have been completed for smooth and peaceful holding of the sixth national population census in Khyber Pakthunkhwa and FATA that would start from Wednesday (tomorrow). According to Saeedur Rehman, Assistant Census Commissioner, all arrangements have been completed for population census, being held after gap of 19 years in Khyber Pakthunkhwa and Fata, the last being held in 1998. The last four censuses were held in 1951, 1961, 1971 and 1981 respectively.
In the first phase, 13 KP districts and one agency of FATA have been selected for the census, which will end on April 13, 2017 and the second phase will commence from April 25 to May 24, 2017. The 13 districts are Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Charsadda, Nowshera, Lakki Marwat, DI Khan, Hangu, Abbottabad, Haripur, Mansehra, Batagram, Torghar and Orakzai Agency.
In the second phase, census would be held in 12 KP districts including Bannu, Kohat, Karak, Tank, Malakand, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Chitral, Swat, Kohistan, Bunner/Daggar, Shangla and six tribal agencies namely Mohmand Agency, Khyber Agency, Kurram Agency, Bajaur Agency, South Wazir Agency and North Waziristan Agency. The official said the census would start 8am and would continue till 4pm without break.
One enumerator along with security personnel would enlist names of houses, shops, persons, ages, married, unmarried persons, education, gender etc in two different farms and would submit it to the concerned authorities soon after completion. In case of wrong information or non-co-operation by any individual, he said, the accused would face six months imprisonment and Rs 50000 fine. Rehman said four level high powered committees have been set up for supervision and effective implementation of the census in KP and Fata as per its true national spirit.
The first committee at provincial level would be headed by Chief Secretary Khyber Pakthunkhwa with its members Secretary Local Government and Rural Development and senior officials of provincial/Fata administration to supervise/monitor the whole census process. The Chief Secretary KP has made Secretary LG and Rural Development as Focal Person, he explained.
The second committee would work under the supervision of Commissioner of the respective divisions with its members Deputy Commissioners/DIG Police etc while third committee at district level would be headed by Deputy Commissioners with members Assistant Commissioners and officials of national building departments. The Commissioner has been assigned the task to work as Divisional Census Coordinator, while the Deputy Commissioners as Census District Coordinator respectively. A Vigilance Committee led by Assistant Commissioners with members DSP Police and other officials of district administration would look after/monitor the census process on ground and would closely coordinate with the above committees/officials.
In FATA, he said Political Agents would act as Census Agency Coordinator with authority to monitor census process in their respective agencies with help of Assistant Political Agents. Saeedur Rehman said that about 12000 staff of various national building departments including teachers had been trained from February 7-28, 2017 for performance of this national obligation.
All census related items including vehicles, utensils/registration farms had been dispatched to the divisional and district officers respectively. The administrative divisions and districts have been divided into urban and rural areas, comprising 200 to 2500 houses to ensure correct counting.
He said a reliable census is important for a country to adequately plan growth, deliver services to people and solve the country's problems on basis of relevant collected data. He appealed masses to cooperate with census staff for their own interest as the above services besides many more would be provided to them on the basis of 6th national census.