Census information collection to continue until 28 June

The deadline for ongoing census information collection has been extended by another week to 28 June as the authorities have failed to survey some portions of four flood-hit districts – Sylhet, Sunamganj, Moulvibazar and Netrokona, officials said.

"Despite the continuous effort, the information collection activities have been disrupted in several districts due mainly to the floods. So, the government decided to continue the work until 28 June," Md Dilder Hossain, director of the Population and Housing Census 2021 project, told The Business Standard.

The decision came from a meeting of top officials from the Statistics and Informatics Division, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and the project yesterday.

Earlier, the government decided to collect census information from 15 June to 21 June this year, after a long delay for various reasons.

The project was taken in 2019 as part of the obligation to collect population data every 10 years.

Officials responsible for coordinating census work in the Sylhet division said although there was no problem in data collection on the initial day, it was badly interrupted by the rise of flood water later. Yet, census activists were seen to continue collecting data.

Meanwhile, experts feared that proper information of some areas might not be collected for a lack of coordination amid the devastating floods.

"The census information collection work was hampered due to the natural disaster. It is very normal that people might have less interest in coordinating census workers amid such a disaster," Syed Shahadat Hossain, professor of The Institute of Statistical Research and Training at Dhaka University, told The Business Standard.

"Besides, many people left their houses to save lives. So, some information cannot be found," he feared.