Manama, April 30: Runaway migrant workers might be a challenge in the census 2010 which was launched in Bahrain on Wednesday. The government will tackle such problems by checking the records of people who entered Bahrain in the last 10 years but never left the country.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, a government official also called upon foreign workers to cooperate with census representatives as they are interested in collecting information only to complete their database.
Mohammed Al Amer of Central Information Organisation told the press that migrant workers should not feel hesitant in giving out information as their cooperation is vital for successful completion of census.
About 350 enumerators have been trained for the census, whose final results will be released in December.
Al Amer said said a call centre had been set up with 30-member staff who would receive queries and make calls for appointments with individuals not listed or registered.
He said this year the census staff had been equipped with digital devices to store data which would definitely save time consumed in the process.
“The census staff will carry laptops that will be linked to our servers to register details of individuals when they conduct field visits. We are minimising the number of steps,” he said.
Bahrain’s first census was conducted in 1941 followed by eight censuses with the last held in 2001, which showed the total population at 661,317 (409,619 Bahrainis and 251,698 Non- Bahrainis).
–Agencies