Digital Census 2023: Minister asks to complete operation in areas with abnormal growth by May 15

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said that the deadline for the ongoing 7th Population and Housing Census has been extended for 15 more days 
He directed provincial governments to complete the field verification/coverage of the Census till 15th May, 2023 in areas where population growth is not in line with normal Demographic trends and close the field operation in all areas exhibiting natural trends.
In pursuance of the 12th meeting of the Census Monitoring Committee and meeting with Demographers and Political parties, a follow-up meeting was held on 30th April 2023. 
During the meeting, Ahsan Iqbal emphasized that Shehbaz Sharif has taken strict notice on the repeated extensions of field enumeration activities of the Census, therefore, targeted verification and enumeration operations should be carried out in areas with abnormal Population Growth, where gaps have already been highlighted using the digital systems architected by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) for the first-ever digital census.
He stressed that special efforts should be made in urban areas of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and ICT to counter issues of under coverage and low coverage.

A uniform data-driven policy must be adopted to conclude the field enumeration in all provinces.
Strict monitoring of fieldwork and daily sharing of progress with PBS headquarters for onward submission to Minister PD & SI, must be adopted to fill the gaps and successfully conclude this exercise.

He further shared that along with under-enumeration, the digital system has also identified over-counting and cases where census exercise has been manipulated or tampered which has resulted in abnormal trends.

He strongly directed concerned teams to address such cases strictly to avoid such incidences in future. He once again stressed on the completion of the exercise on 15th May, 2023 for timely handing over data to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Secretary PD & SI, Syed Zafar Ali Shah informed PBS and stakeholders to redouble their efforts to complete the exercise till 15th May, 2023 and to adopt a uniform policy in all blocks throughout the country to complete the exercise.

Chief Census Commissioner, Dr. Naeem uz Zafar, presented the latest updates and recommendations for the completion of the exercise within the stipulated time.

He requested that for addressing gaps and timely completion of exercise the support of provincial governments in monitoring and deep surveillance of field exercise, along with the support of law and order agencies for provision of security to enumerators is critical.

He further added that there is a need to make efforts to ensure full coverage of restricted areas, collective residences and gated communities.

It was decided in the meeting that field operation should specifically focus on verification/coverage of leftover areas in Punjab (33 districts), Sindh (8 districts), KP (9 districts), Balochistan (3 districts) and ICT along with verification exercise in specific areas.