CS orders ‘elaborate plan’ for security of field teams: Punjab divided into 167 census districts

LAHORE: The Provincial Coordination Committee for Digital Census on Wednesday decided to set up control centres at tehsil and district levels for effective coordination among army, police, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and relevant provincial departments, including education and health.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the Provincial Coordination Committee for Digital Census presided over by Chief Secretary Punjab Abdullah Khan Sumbal, at the Civil Secretariat. Provincial Census Commissioner Ali Bahadar Qazi, top civil and police officials attended the meeting while all divisional commissioners and Regional Police Officers (RPOs) participated through video link.

The Chief Secretary directed that a comprehensive plan be prepared for the security of the census teams and special security measures be taken in Multan and Lahore, keeping in view the PSL matches. He said that the attendance of the relevant staff of the education and other departments must be ensured in training sessions.

The Chief Secretary also issued instructions to the divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners regarding the complete monitoring and feedback of the census work. He said that census is an important national responsibility, adding that the officers and employees should perform their assigned duties diligently and honestly.

Provincial Census Commissioner Ali Bahadar Qazi gave a detailed briefing at the meeting. He said that Punjab had been divided into 167 Census Districts and the training of field staff at the tehsil level had started from January 7. He said that 46,873 enumerators and 6,250 supervisors would perform census duties. He said that the NADRA and PBS had provided 155 tablets to be used in the census. He mentioned that three-tier security would be provided to the census teams and army and rangers personnel would provide assistance to the police.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023