Tessori and family finally counted

Officials and staff of the provincial census commission visited the Sindh Governor House on Sunday to enumerate the incumbent governor, Kamran Khan Tessori, and his family in the ongoing 7th Population and Housing Census.

While chairing a meeting last Wednesday, the governor had complained that he and his family were yet to be counted by the census staff. The governor and his family members were finally enumerated on Sunday as the census drive in large cities such as Karachi has been extended till April 20 to ensure that each of their residents and building structures is duly counted. The census count would continue for a few more days amid reports of serious understating of the population of Karachi by the enumerators so far.

Tessori said it was the responsibility of the people to come forward to get themselves enumerated in the census campaign. He said that an accurate population count was important for the just distribution of fiscal resources.

He remarked that being the economic hub of the country, Karachi required civic infrastructure in accordance with its population. He said the people of the city would be deprived of due civic facilities in case the population was understated in the census.

Tessori mentioned that another extension of five days had been granted in the census work to let people of the city duly enumerated. He added that accurate census data was important for the provision of public healthcare, education and livelihood opportunities for the public.

He advised the people that in case the enumerators had not visited their houses, they should contact their relevant assistant commissioner, deputy commissioner or the nearest census office to make sure that all the people in their households were duly counted.

The governor visited Gulshan-e-Maymar, a suburb locality of Karachi, in the wee hours of Sunday for a Sehri meal where he told residents of the area that he had written a letter to Federal Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal to draw his attention to the census problems.

He explained that he had advised the federal minister to get help from the record of citizens available with the National Database and Registration Authority for an accurate count of the population of Karachi. He expressed the hope that all the flaws in the census campaign would be removed by the census authorities to ensure proper enumeration of all the residents of the city.