Census work begins in HP today

The exercise will start at 9.30 am on Wednesday when a local enumerator visits Governor Urmila Singh. He will be accompanied by Shimla Deputy Commissioner J S Rana,Municipal Commissioner A N Sharma,Secretary,General Administration Department,Ajai Bhandari and Superintendent of Police R M Sharma.

Balbir Tegta,Director,Census (Himachal Pradesh),said: “Our teams will also visit Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to mark the launch of the operation in the hill state tomorrow.”

He added: “Today,we handed over Census kits to 19,000 enumerators,who will be sent across the length and breadth of the state (barring snow-bound areas) to complete the first phase,which covers house listing,house census and preparation of the National Population Register.”

The first phase of the Census operations will be completed in 45 days,till May 22. The second phase to cover the snow-bound districts will begin from September 11. This will be a 20-day task.

The snow-bound areas identified for the second phase will include Pangi sub-division of Chamba district,Multhan sub-tehsil of Kangra district,Dodra Kwar subdivision of Shimla district and the tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti.

The enumerators,said Tegta,had been imparted special trainings and equipped with documents,route maps and the terrains. A few of them will have to travel miles on foot,braving hostile weather conditions.

It will be for the first time that the entire exercise will be computerised and translated into different languages.

Dhumal,meanwhile,issued an appeal to the people to extend full support to the enumerators and provide all details in response to the questions asked by them.