MUZAFFARABAD, (Parliament Times) : Pakistan Bureau of Statistics hosted a sensitization workshop on 7th Digital Population and Housing Census, 2022, at PC Hotel, Muzaffarabad, AJK on 6th June, 2022. The purpose of the workshop was to apprise the Provincial Government functionaries (Chief Secretary, relevant Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners) regarding the Census process, tools, techniques, methodology and Provincial Government role for smooth execution of the upcoming census. Further, the goal of the workshop is to brought transparency in the whole process to be adopted for broader involvement and ownership, as census will be executed and monitored at provincial level.
Chief Secretary, AJK, Muhammad Usman Chachar, was chief guest on the occasion. The workshop was attended by Senior Member Board of Revenue, Secretary local govt, Secretary Education, other secretaries and additional secretaries, IG police, DG Health, DG IT Board, Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners from AJ & K.
Chief Statistician PBS, Dr. Naeem uz Zafar, welcomed all the distinguished guests and gave the background and introduction of Census. He elaborated importance of census with the role of provinces in its success. He appraised the participants that the provinces are important stake holders having key role of planning, training, implementation, and monitoring in the census, whereas, PBS will coordinate and facilitate for smooth and transparent conduct of census.
Member (Support Services/ Resource Management) PBS, Mr. Muhammad Sarwar Gondal gave a detailed presentation on forthcoming census, especially in terms of digital conduct of census. He informed the audience about the role of different tiers of provincial administration at various stages of census. He emphasized that digital census requires provision of computer literate trainers and enumerators by provincial government.
During Question answer session, officials from PBS responded to queries and comments by participants.
Chief Secretary, AJK, Muhammad Usman Chachar, appreciated the efforts of PBS for confidence building of its stakeholders. He further said that Census is National Obligation as it is essential; for Planning and Policy making. District administration is responsible to conduct census, therefore, all Deputy Commissioners must ensure the recruitment of qualified and computer literate staff for enumeration and training as per requirement of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. He also emphasized on capacity building of staff involved in census and establishment of Census Support centres at each Tehsil in AJK. He suggested to add the question related to refugees coming to Kashmir in Census questionnaire. In the end he assured that districts in AJK will exhibit full support and cooperation.
Chief Statistician thanked all the guests for active participation and commitment for census.
