Department of Census and Statistics holds ‘Census and Statistics Awareness Walk 2014’
Saturday, 13 December 2014 00:15
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The Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) together with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) organised the ‘Census and Statistics Awareness Walk 2014’ on 4 December.
The main purpose of the walk was to create awareness about the services provided by the Department of Census and Statistics to the country and to announce that the DCS wouldbe opening their new office building on 8 December with a religious ceremony.
The walk commenced at Campbell Park, Borella at 10 a.m. and ended at the new DCS office building located at No. 306/ 71, Poldoowa Road, Battaramulla. Over 1,500 people participated in the walk including the staff from the DCS head office in Colombo, the branch officers in district and divisional secretariats, DCS officers based in other Ministries and Government institutes as well as invitees. The employees of DCS carried placards of the important statistical findings during the walk to create awareness among the public.
The department’s main mission is to provide statistics that are accurate, timely and reliable to the country for it to grow and prosper. The DCS has been publishing statistics for nearly 67 years and currently has 12 Technical Divisions with over 1,400 staff.
D.C.A. Gunawardena, Director General of Department of Census and Statistics, stated: “Our task is to collect, compile, analyse and communicate the information on a wide range of subjects including but not limited to business, economic indicators, education, agriculture, health, work and income, industry sectors as well as population. We also coordinate and set standards for statistics produced by other Ministries and Departments on health, education, and vital events.”
Gunawardena further thanked President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Dr. P. B. Jayasundera, Secretary to the Treasury and the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Planning, for the fullest cooperation they extended to build the new building of DCS. The staff of the department has shifted to more than 25 different locations since its inception in 1947 as there was no such dedicated building for the DCS.
He also extended his sincere gratitude to UNFPA representative Alain Sibenaler and all the former employees for their dedication towards the DCS and stated that the new office building of the DCS was a dream come true for all employees of the department.
Vasana Jayakody, Deputy Director of Department of Census and Statistics, stated: “Until to date, different divisions of the DCS were in different locations. This hinders the operational efficiency of the DCS as a whole. We have had many practical difficulties such as coordination difficulties and integration difficulties as the staff was located in several offices in and around Colombo. Even the people who come to receive our service had to go through a lot of difficulties.”
The DCS will start fully-fledged operations from their new building from 1 January 2015 onwards.
With the relocation of all the divisions of the department under one roof, the DCS will be able to respond to all the data needs of its stakeholders quickly and efficiently with better coordination between different divisions.
