Deadline extended by 5 days to complete census surveys in multiple districts

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday extended the deadline for the completion of census data for the entire country by five days, following the failure to complete the exercise in partial areas of almost 26 districts across four provinces.

The decision was taken in response to an increase in complaints about the exercise, particularly in major metropolitan areas such as Karachi.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has announced that the first-ever digital census will continue until April 15, based on the recommendations of provincial governments, a government statement said.

“The extension of the census fieldwork has been approved to ensure complete coverage and assurance of no leftover houses in 19 cities.”

These cities include Quetta, Pishin, Khuzdar, Panjgur, Kech, Kohlu, Washuk, Gwadar, Zhob, Lasbela, Chaghi, Nushki, Mastung, Hernai, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Gilgit, and Islamabad.

According to official data, over 90 percent of the work has been completed in Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while Islamabad and Balochistan are lagging behind with 72 percent and 62 percent of work completed, respectively.

The PBS is required to submit the complete census data by April 30. The field enumeration of the first-ever digital census started on March 1, after being delayed from its original scheduled date of February 1.

In another statement, PBS announced that the field operations continued without any interruption until April 10, and termed the overall progress as encouraging and satisfactory.

The PBS highlighted that collecting data from 97 percent of listed households through tablets was a significant achievement and would pave the way for a prosperous Pakistan.

The census fieldwork has been completed by over 99 percent in Punjab, 98 percent in Sindh, 90 percent in Islamabad, and 82 percent in Balochistan. The work is almost complete in KP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, with 100 percent of census work completed in 131 out of 156 districts across the country, and 70-80 percent of work completed in the remaining 25 districts.

The PBS also noted that the work completion percentage might slightly increase after the synchronization of data from some completed blocks that fall in the offline zone.