“Had we managed to follow our schedule, we should have started the data processing and analyzing by November end,” Dr Rudra Suwal, director of the CBS, said. [break]
“As a result, the final report will come out at least two months later than expected.” As per the schedule, the CBS was supposed to publish its national report, which contains a myriad of population details, by the end of the ongoing fiscal year.
By November end, the previous deadline for beginning data analyzing, the CBS has just listed five firms that have expressed interest in providing technical assistance for data processing.
The selection of the lowest-bidder is expected to take at least two months, making it impossible for the CBS to publish its national report on time.
Uttam Narayan Malla, director general of the CBS, attributes the delay in the data processing and analyzing mainly to allocation of insufficient budget by the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
According to Malla, the CBS had actually sought Rs 160 million for processing and analyzing of census data. However, the MoF allocated only Rs 60 million.
“It is impossible to accomplish the task of data processing and analyzing with this little budget,” Malla says. “We could not select any firm for this task after the MoF allocated a very low budget.” Malla said the CBS has started the process for selection of a suitable firm for data analyzing after the MoF assured it of allocating more budget later.
“We have written to the MoF many times to provide sufficient budget,” Malla said. “We can not publish the final report if the MoF does not provide us with sufficient budget.” Previously, the MoF had allocated Rs 1.18 billion for household survey and field work of the census. Of which, about Rs 800 million was spent for daily allowances of field workers.
Meanwhile, the CBS has complained of budget crunch for the agriculture survey -- the field-work of which will start next month. According to Malla, data collectors are now undergoing training for the field work.
“We will soon have to send them for field work,” Malla said. “But, we have no budget as yet for providing them allowances. We are short of at least Rs 40 million.”
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