The process for conducting the sixth population census will start across the country from March 28 next year, and will be completed in 19 days.
“The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) is undergoing a preparatory process and it is hoped that the process would be completed smoothly,” PBS Chief Census Commissioner Habibullah Khan Khattak, told a press briefing on Monday.
He said the government has allocated Rs 14.5 billion to conduct the whole process out of which about Rs 5 billion have been released.
He said in accordance with the decision of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), the census would be held under the supervision of the armed forces and around 200,500-armed men would be deployed for the security of the census teams across the country.
Khattak said the census would be conducted in one go and the house listing and main census would take place simultaneously.
The census commissioner informed that the country has been divided into 162,921 census blocks and each block would consist of 200 to 250 houses.
He said all the provincial bureaus of statistics have been taken on board and meetings with different stakeholders were continuing in order to ensure smooth flow of the census process.
To a question, Habibullah Khattak said the country has demanded an amount of $19.7 million for the process and in this regard, the government invited a donor conference last week.
“We have told them about our needs, so they will reply in a short time in this regard,” he added.
He said that in 2008, the government hired the services of a UK based company called DRS in order to arrange census-based material, including machinery, paper, and other equipment, and this time too they were invited to monitor the equipment.
To another question, Habibullah said that there is no big threat standing in the way of conducting a population census, and it is hoped that it will be completed in a smooth way.
