ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Thursday chaired a briefing session to seek an update on the second phase of Population and Housing Census – 2017.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed, the Statistics Division secretary, PBS chief statistician, and senior officials of the Finance Division attended the meeting.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) chief statistician apprised the meeting that second phase of the census which commenced on April 25 would cover 88 districts throughout the country and will continue till May 24. In the second phase, twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi along with federally administered tribal areas (FATA) would also be covered. The second phase, he said was progressing smoothly and in accordance with the schedule.
The chief statistician added that all filled in census documents in respect of 63 districts covered in the first phase of the census had been safely received at the PBS headquarters.
It was further informed in the meeting that the government had already released the total allocated budget i.e. Rs 18.5 billion for the census process.
The finance minister said he was pleased to note that a team of international observers had expressed satisfaction over the census operation that had now entered its second phase, adding to the credibility and transparency of the drive.
The minister appreciated and thanked the provincial chief secretaries, armed forces personnel and members of the law enforcement agencies for their cooperation and support in successful completion of the first phase of the census. He also lauded the hard work undertaken by the PBS and the census staff for smooth conduct of all census-related activities. He said that indeed response from people and their support for the census process was overwhelming.
He urged the PBS to keep up the good work with same dedication in the second phase as was demonstrated in the first one.
