KARACHI: A staffer of 7th Population and Housing Census was deprived of his mobile phone by dacoits when he was performing his census duty in Landhi, Karachi on Wednesday, which was the very first day of the campaign.

It was learnt that the census staff have not been provided any security by the civil administration and they are compelled to work in the field without any protection.

An enumerator Sohail was busy in his work in Block-107 Charge 3, C-1 Area Landhi when two robbers riding a motorcycle snatched his mobile cell and ran away easily.

Meanwhile, the census staffs in Central and Orangi districts were not provided security personnel by the civil administration and they could not have started the 7th Population and Housing Census in their respective areas.

Moreover, the self-enumeration portal also ran into technical problems, residential district on registration web portal also went inactive and existing residential tehsil is not useable for data entry either.

Female census staff have refused to work without security as they said who would be responsible if their tablet computers were snatched.

However, the civil administrations in both districts are not ready to resolve the issue, the census staff complained.

Commissioner Karachi and the both districts’ Deputy Commissioners were not available to comment on the situation when they were contacted by media persons.

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Earlier in Islamabad on Wednesday, Chief Census Commissioner Dr Naeem uz Zafar inaugurated the field activities here by marking first Building Structure in ‘House Listing App’.

Meanwhile, the inauguration in all divisions was carried out by respective Commissioners. The citizens of Pakistan being the most important stakeholders and beneficiary of the census are urged to ensure their full participation and cooperation during census field operation. The participation in the census is not only our moral & legal obligation but also provides the opportunity to the government to devise evidence base policy planning for ensuring our rights and better service delivery at our doorstep.

PBS has already launched self-enumeration portal https://self.pbs.gov.pk since February, 20, 2023 which is first ever opportunity provided to any country in South Asia.

The response of the citizens to get themselves registered and get enumerated through the portal is tremendous. The participation of the citizens in the census through self-enumeration portal is phenomenal as well as beyond the expectation.

PBS has been striving to make the portal more users friendly on the basis of valuable feedback of the citizens and citizens are encouraged to provide their feedback and register their complaints through our toll-free number 0800-57574 for further facilitation, assistance and suggestions.

The inauguration was followed by the brief media talk by the Chief Census Commissioner Dr Naeem uz Zafar and spokesman (PBS)/ Member SS/RM Mr. Muhammad Sarwar Gondal in which the media was briefed about the Digital Census’s background, Progress till date and appreciate the involvement of all stakeholders.

He appreciated the succession of self-enumeration portal and hoped that same progress & dedication will be seen during the full roll-out of enumeration activity. This Census will geo tag all structures of Pakistan that will provide framework for economic census. 92,754 Enumerators are fully motivated and engaged in door-to-door field activities which was started early today in all over Pakistan.