ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Planning has sent the execution and work plan for next “Population and Housing Census 2022” to the Council of Common Interest (CCI), as the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) is following the timelines to provide the data to the Election Commission for delimitation process for general election 2023.
This was revealed during the third progress review meeting on the 7th Population and Housing Census 2022 on “The Digital Census” here on Friday, which was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar.
Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Secretary PD&SI, Chief Statistician PBS, Muhammad Sarwar Gondal Focal Person on Digital Census, and Rabia Awan Director of Census Planning and Coordination Section attended the meeting.
A detailed presentation was given on the census work plan and progress. It was informed that the PBS is strictly following the timelines and is so far on track to provide the data in December 2022 for provision to the election commission for delimitation process for general election 2023. Census 2022 questionnaire has been finalised by committee and the summary for the CCI for approval of the execution of census along with work plan has been sent.
It was further informed that the cabinet on 5th October 2021 has already approved the recommendations of the census advisory committee for forwarding to the CCI. Keeping in view the challenging timelines and gigantic activity of the first-ever Digital Census, the PBS is collaborating with different national organisations such as the National Telecommunication Communication (NTC), NADRA, SUPARCO NRTC for the provision of services for successful completion of activities.
Detailed consultative meetings held with all stakeholders and all major preparatory activities will be completed by end of March 2022. It was further informed in the meeting that an advertisement for hiring a firm for a social media campaign for the public has also been prepared.
Minister PD&SI directed that as PBS to initiate the sharing of all activities of the census for awareness of all stakeholders and the provinces must be involved in all processes and sensitization seminars may be held at each provincial headquarters for awareness and broader involvement of all the stakeholders.
He emphasised that quality of services along with timeliness must be kept in mind before finalising the potential partners. He further directed that proper monitoring of all activities with Gantt charts must be done professionally through specially designed software for timely completion of activities.
Umar appreciated the work done so far by the PBS and it was directed to follow the timelines rigorously and keep him informed on the progress and interventions needed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021