KISHTWAR: The Principal Census Officer (PCO)/ Deputy Commissioner (DC) Pankaj Kumar Sharma today chaired a meeting to review preparations for the compilation of District Census Handbook (DCHB) and other important activities connected with Census 2027 Phase-III in the district.
The meeting held detailed deliberations on the identification and deployment of suitable field functionaries for collection of village-level data for the District Census Handbook.
The Charge Officers were directed to complete the identification process promptly and ensure registration of all selected functionaries on the prescribed training and main portal.
The PCO directed that villages be allotted to the field functionaries simultaneously with their registration, keeping in view the topography, accessibility, geographical conditions and workload of individual areas.
It was informed that the field functionaries would be paid an honorarium of ₹1,000 per village, while the number of villages assigned to each functionary should remain reasonable to ensure accuracy and quality of data.
The meeting was further informed that one-day training programmes would be organised at the Charge level / District Headquarters, as appropriate, to familiarise the functionaries with the prescribed application, data requirements and field procedures.
The data collection exercise for the District Census Handbook is scheduled to be undertaken from 1st October to 30th October 2026, primarily through the prescribed mobile application/platform, with manual collection to be resorted to only in exceptional circumstances.
Emphasising the importance of data quality, the PCO directed the concerned Tehsildars / Executive Officer functioning as Charge Officers to closely monitor the exercise and ensure that the information collected and uploaded by field functionaries is properly scrutinised and validated before final submission.
The PCO impressed upon all Charge Officers and associated functionaries to maintain close coordination and adhere strictly to the prescribed timelines, observing that accuracy, completeness and timely collection of data must remain the foremost priorities in the District Census Handbook exercise.
The meeting concluded with directions to all concerned officers to ensure time-bound completion of preparatory activities and seamless execution of both the DCHB exercise and ongoing Census 2027 Phase-III activities across District Kishtwar.
The meeting was attended by ADC (DCO), Pawan Kotwal, PO ICDS Rishi Kumar Sharma, ACD Manoj Kumar, all SDMs (virtually), DSEO (ADCO), Suresh Kumar Sharma, Tehsildar HQA, DC Office,. Mohd. Rafie Naik, all Tehsildars (virtually), EO MC, Mirza Mumtaz Iqbal, DIO NIC, Faizal Khan, Dy. CEO, Masood Ahmed Qazi, besides other concerned officers and officials.
