LAHORE: The 7th and first-ever housing and population digital census has almost been completed in Lahore as the officials are currently verifying physically the data related to the number of houses visited since March 1, 2023 – starting date of census – in the provincial capital.

On the other hand, the authorities concerned have given five days more to the administration of Lahore and other major cities to verify the data related to digital census provided by the field teams, ensure quality and get the census information from missed during the 45 days extensive census exercise.

“Ninety-nine percent work related to the 7th and the first-ever digital census has been completed in the Punjab capital. At present, the supervisors are only checking the houses visited so far and verifying the data provided by the field teams,” Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa said while presiding over a meeting held here on Saturday.

“The purpose of verifying the data by visiting houses is to ensure filling of the census forms of those missed due to various reasons like non-availability of family members etc,” he added.

Supervisors verifying data provided by field teams

While directing the officers to ensure completion of the remaining job related to census within next few days, the commissioner said each team visited 250 houses in Lahore and uploaded data of the residents through a computerised system. He said since the 7th census is the first-ever digital of its kind, 15,184 blocks in Lahore division, including 8,021 in the Lahore city district alone, were constituted.

“We have tried to ensure availability of all required resources to the field teams and the officers engaged in such a massive official activity,” Mr Randhawa said, adding that the field teams also checked the uploaded data again and again in a bid to avert any issue.

Lahore Deputy Commissioner Rafia Haider told Dawn the government had given five days more to the administrations of all major cities in Punjab to recheck the data by physically visiting the houses and verifying from the residents.

“We are doing this exercise in a bid to ensure quality of the census,” she said while appreciating all the census teams for their hard work.

It merits mention that the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics had started the census process on Feb 20 with an option to self-enumerate through a specially designated online portal. The response from the public has been reportedly great with over 4m people visiting the portal in just a few days. This is the first of its kind digital census in South Asia. The self-enumeration continued till March 3, 2023 while the field enumeration started on March 1.

MISSING KIDS: The help desk of Pakistan Railways police (Lahore station), in first quarter of this year, reunited 44 children, including 26 missing girls and 18 boys with their families.

According to a spokesman for the PR police, missing luggage, including laptops, mobile phones, cosmetics, artificial jewelry and clothes, worth about 1.1m was handed over to its owners. A total of 119 lost bags were received by the help desk, out of which 74 bags were handed over to the real owners while 44 were submitted to the Lost Property Office. Besides, a bag full of batteries worth Rs40,000 was handed over to its owner.

During the three months, wheelchairs were provided to 444 physically challenged and sick passengers and stretchers to 12 passengers.

The help desks established by the railways police at railway stations across the country are facilitating the railway passengers and they are providing timely assistance to the passengers. These help desks set up in railway stations act as temporary shelters for missing boys and girls where they are safely accommodated and provided with food and drink free of cost.

Apart from this, the desks play an important role in delivering the lost luggage of the passengers back to them.

PARKING: Punjab Caretaker Local Government Minister Ibrahim Murad has warned the relevant staff of stern penal action for overcharging the parking fee from the shoppers shopping for Eidul Fitr.

The minister has also advised the citizens to not to pay the parking fee beyond the rates approved by the government, adding that the parking fee for a motorcycle was Rs10 and Rs30 for a car.

“The citizens are required to pay the parking fees only against the new parking tickets having barcodes as a special feature because the tickets of old design have been withdrawn on complaints of issuance of fake tickets,” he said in a statement on Saturday.

Taking notice of the public complaints regarding overcharging ahead of Eid, the minister directed the CEO of the Lahore Parking Company for carrying out raids on the parking stands.

On direction by the minister, the Lahore Parking Company has constituted six vigilance committees for each of its six administrative zones in the city. These committees will visit all the parking areas in their jurisdictions daily and ensure adherence to the approved parking fee.

The minister also sought for prominently placing of the boards of parking rates at the parking sites and warned that those involved in overcharging or issuing fake parking tickets would not only be suspended but cases would also be registered against them.

“Those who loot the parking fee and do not deposit the collected parking fee in the public exchequer will be dealt with severely,” he warned.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2023