Urban News

Initiating the process for the 2011 population census in its jurisdiction, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Friday said that it would register dwellings irrespective of their legality in the house-listing drive from May 1, but simultaneously carry out its anti-encroachment drive.

“There are clear-cut directions that head count has to be done and before that every dwelling has to be registered for the census irrespective of the legality of structure,” said municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade. The first phase will be done between May 1 and June 15 while the actual head count will take place in January and February 2011.

He said the citizens should ensure that their dwelling has been covered under the house-listing drive or they will miss out in the census.

The civic body had recently taken a drive against the illegal structures and encroachment in its limits. When asked on whether this would suffer due to the census, Zagade said the civic body will continue to carry out its responsibilities and the anti-encroachment drive will not stop.

A total of 5,200 civic staff will carry out door-to-door survey wherein citizens have to provide the detailed information sought in the prescribed form, he said, adding that there will be officers who will keep a check on the ground-level staff. A national population register is being prepared wherein the fingerprints of each citizen will be taken with an intention of issuing a card with unique code for every citizen. A complaint redressal cell will be started for census complaints at each of the 14 ward offices. The role of every staff involved in census has been defined and accordingly training is being provided to them, Zagade said.