Flood victims look at their houses destroyed by floodwaters in Yousuf Naich village in Dadu district, some 381 km from Karachi, in Pakistan's Sindh province, September 29, 2010. Following the 2010 floods, the sixth census in Pakistan is underway. Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Secretary Statistics Division, Asif Bajwa on Thursday said that under the comprehensive training programme, around 82,000 staff members were employed to achieve the task of house count.

"Initially master trainers were prepared who later imparted training to local trainers and other employees. The 2011 census is a huge task and for the purpose enough staff has been deployed. The first phase of the census is underway and would be complete by April 19," he said.

During the first phase, he said the staff on census duty is marking household number and filling the required data in columns of the forms.

The census commission authorities have already handed over the entire work to district administrations where the respective district coordination officers are acting as coordinators and deputy district officers as census district officers, while in cantonments the executive officers concerned are working as census officers.

He said the staff members are visiting houses, preferably at a time when the family head is available so as to get all the required information.

Answering a question, Bajwa said that every staff member is covering two to three blocks over the next 15 days. Since every block has between 200 and 250 housing units, each member is covering between 600 and 750 houses during this phase.

He said that staff member is supposed to report his work progress to the DDO Revenue concerned.

In reply to a question, he said that if anyone found their house unmarked after the completion of the first phase on April 19, they could file a complaint at the census control room for rectification of anomaly.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Population Census Department, Habibullah Khan said special teams have been constituted to monitor the country-wide sixth census.

He said each team, comprising around 50 to 55 members, is monitoring the working in every division to make the process more productive.

He said that according to Act, the data collected would not be handed over to any other department.

He appealed to the people to cooperate with the staff so that the process of census could be completed in an effective and efficient manner.

He said in case of any need, assistance of security forces would be sought while in the areas where access is quite difficult, the census would be carried out at later stage.

He said each and every house would be marked a number, no matter it is vacant or occupied.

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