Buildings made like houses will be marked once: Bureau of Statistics

Says population census to start after housing census; people should contact control room if census team doesn’t reach their area; process of census continues smoothly in Karachi; Census Complaint Cell at CM House receives 139 grievances

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: The Housing and Population Census has begun in Pakistan which will continue till April 13, 2017. The task of population count will end by March 27 and from March 28 the count for people without shelter will begin. Many people have complained that the census team has neither reached their homes nor marked their homes.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, ten percent housing count will be completed in the next few days. The bureau has also informed that during the population and housing census, building having a separate status will be marked only once. Adding to it, the bureau explained that each building would be marked as one even if it had many floors and many families located within. However, if there is more than one family in the building then they will be included in Form-1 separately.

If the census team doesn’t reach any area, then the people must contact the control room number (080057574) and inform them of this thing, considering it as their national duty. The control room will keep serving for 24 hours a day. While expressing the concerns of people regarding the numbering on their homes, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics explained that a building that had many storeys will be considered as one and would be marked as one from outside – no matter what purpose they were being used for. On the other hand, if there was more than one family in that building then they would be marked separately on Form-1 and Column-4.

Process of census continues smoothly in Karachi: After three days of house listing from March 15 to 17, the population census commenced in Karachi on Saturday in a smooth manner, an official of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said. He stated that the first phase of the 6th Population and Housing Census 2017 would continue till April 15. In the metropolis, there are 14,522 blocks and one enumerator would be responsible for two blocks each. The house listing was conducted from March 15 to 17. Population census would be carried out from March 18 to April 14. The enumerators are from the departments of Local Government, School Education Department, Health and Revenue Departments. There would be one enumerator for every block that would consist of 200 to 250 houses. The second phase of the census would be carried out from April 25 to May 25. There were some complaints that house listing was not carried out in some of the areas. “These would be covered in the second block from March 31 to April 2,” the official of the Federal Bureau of Statistics said. He said that the six Admin districts of Karachi have been divided into 37 `census districts'.

Census Complaint Cell at CM House receives 139 grievances: The Census Complaint Cell set up by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at the CM House has so far received 139 grievances, it was learnt on Saturday. Of the 139 complaints, 10 percent are related to filling out census forms in pencil, while the remaining are against the census staff failing to show up in different localities for the house count.

While the majority of the grievances are from Karachi, they also include 14 from Hyderabad and four from Ghotki. On the directives of the chief executive, the complaints received from the public have been forwarded to the relevant quarters for necessary action. The complaint record shows that many houses have not been counted in the housing census. The office of the chief secretary is forwarding the complaints to the relevant departments and sections of the government. The complaint cell has been working in two shifts – from 8am to 3pm and from 3pm to 10 pm – and could be reached via telephone numbers 021-99207350 and 021-99202180 as well as fax numbers 021-99202007 and 021-99202000.On Thursday, the CM had said he would convene a meeting of representatives of all the major political parties to adopt a joint strategy to address the irregularities being reported in the ongoing sixth census across the province. He told the media that he had already filled in Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on the matter and had received his assurance of resolving the issues. He said that it was wrong on the part of the enumerators to fill out the census forms in pencil, as several such cases had been reported.He also objected to counting a multi-storeyed building as one unit. “Such things should not happen in the census,” he said. He questioned the assurances of the census commissioner when he had briefed the provincial cabinet on the particulars of conducting the population and housing census. He said the occupants of every flat in a residential building would be counted as a separate family during the housing census, adding that if that was not the case, then it was wrong and “we shall get it resolved.”

In a statement, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Taj Haider had also expressed concern over enumerators filling out forms in pencil, saying that using pencil should be avoided to prevent the people from having doubts and reservations over the census.

Haider said relevant information of the ongoing exercise should be uploaded to the website of the Federal Bureau of Statistics, adding that the information should specify how many houses were included in a block, how many houses were counted in a single day and entries of the census forms.

He said the website should be updated on a daily basis so that the people could bring  themselves up to date on the progress of the population and housing count, adding that the Sindh government had already written to the federal administration on the subject “Senators affiliated with the PPP had also submitted an adjournment motion in this regard and a debate on the issues relating to the census is likely to be held in the legislature,” said Haider.  He said a large number of complaints were received from different parts of Karachi as regards  the ongoing census, especially from District Malir where a number of houses could not be  counted by the census staff.

He appealed to the activists and office-bearers of the PPP to lodge their complaints regarding  the census at the complaint cell established in the media cell of party. The complaint cell could  be reached via WhatsApp (0300-3366732) or telephone (35823197-8).

The Karachi commissioner had also taken notice of unauthorised use of pencils by enumerators  to fill out census forms during the housing and population survey. All deputy commissioners  were notified by the additional city commissioner to ensure no enumerator in any district used a pencil to fill out the census forms.

“It is keenly observed that some of the enumerators are making entries in Form-1 with a pencil, although a pencil is not allowed and is not part of the census kit provided to the enumerators by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Sindh, Karachi,” read the circular. Copies of the circular were also sent to the federal government’s census commission chief,  provincial census commissioner in Sindh, headquarters of V-Corps in Karachi and to other relevant senior government officials.