LAHORE, Sept 30: The Mouza (Village) Census 2003 report will be released in the third week of October, Dawn learnt here on Thursday.

Sources in the Agriculture Census Organization (ACO) said the report would be very beneficial for the local government system because it contained information about socio-economic indicators of all villages in the country.

Data about the availability of electricity, sources of drinking and irrigation water, sewerage system and bricked streets, number of tubewells, tractors, poultry and fish farms, co-operative societies, provision of pesticides, fertilizers and seeds had also been included.

Similarly, information on distance of hospitals, schools, colleges, post offices, railway stations, petrol pumps, and vegetable, grain or fruit markets had also been ascertained.

It would help plan and evaluate development activities at the tehsil and district level. Sources said the scope of the Mouza Census 2003 was extended to unsettled areas and for the first time northern areas were covered. They said the database was being developed to make the report user-friendly.

Established in 1957, the ACO conducts Mouza census after every five years, the agriculture census in the year ending on the digit 0, the agricultural machinery census in the year ending on 4 and the livestock in the year ending on 6.