MUZAFFARABAD: Population census began on Wednesday in five out of 10 districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, as in the rest of the country.
A ceremony was held at the President House to mark the commencement of the sixth census. Divisional Commissioner Muhammad Tayyab and local Station Commander Brig Akhtar, among others, attended the ceremony.
The commissioner initiated the house listing from the Presidency. House counting will continue till Friday, after which the population census will begin.
Census Commissioner Raja Tariq Mahmood said the first phase of the exercise would cover Muzaffarabad, Bagh, Sudhnoti, Kotli and Bhimber districts. The phase will conclude on April 15.
The enumeration areas in the five districts comprised 50 charges (an area that roughly matches the jurisdiction of a naib tehsildar or revenue officer), 271 circles and 2,443 blocks, he added. He said that around 1,700 teachers and an equal number of army personnel had been deployed for carrying out the exercise.
The AJK census commissioner urged the masses to extend complete cooperation to the enumerators and warned of imprisonment for six months and a fine of Rs50,000 to those furnishing wrong information.
The census in the remaining five districts will begin in May.
Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2017
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