By Hasnain Ali
It all began with a knock. An enumerator, Waris Mehmood, recently knocked on a door in Faisalabad, a town in Punjab. He expected cooperation — maybe even a smile. Instead, things went the other way: he got a scolding that could make even a school principal proud.
An elderly man, sitting comfortably outside his home, launched into a tirade the moment the poor enumerator introduced himself.
“Why did you knock without my permission?” he thundered, as if the young man had tried to sell him a pyramid scheme.
The enumerator, instead of reacting, tried to remain as calm as a monk on a deadline. He politely explained that he was there to collect household information for the government’s new Punjab Socio-Economic Registry Program. The man, unmoved, again replied harshly once again, “That’s your problem!”
This situation shows the challenges of working on the frontline of public engagement — where good intentions often meet with hostility and aggressive tactics.
When the public is not informed beforehand, door-to-door data collection can easily lead to unsafe or negative encounters for the enumerators working across the province.
Punjab Socio-Economic Registry Program: Frustration on the Frontline
Waris Mehmood, speaking with Dawn Lahore, said that the bureaucracy of Punjab has launched this census without sense. He added that, theoretically, it’s a noble idea aimed at collecting household data so that social welfare programs can actually reach deserving people.
The government is striving to strengthen its digital backbone for planning — a way to identify who’s struggling, who’s working and perhaps who’s trying to game the system like our bureaucracy.
However, any enumerator working in the field will tell you that good ideas don’t always translate into smooth door-to-door operations, he added.
“People don’t even know about the campaign,” Usman Noman, another enumerator, told Dawn Lahore. “They think we’re here to help the government impose new taxes or spy for someone with the data we’re collecting at their doorstep.”
It’s not entirely the fault of people, our superiors are directly responsible for this situation. In our country, every new survey, form, or data suspiciously seems connected to bills and bureaucracy, people see a stranger with an electronic gadget as a problem than progress.
The Forgotten Foot Soldiers
Enumerators are workers who carry digital gadgets to collect information for the government. They have been sent into the field without proper support and protection.
He said their superiors sit comfortably in their lavish offices while enumerators face public outrage and, sometimes, outright threats.
“We have no awareness campaign and no safety arrangements,” he complained. “People shout at us with impunity, some threaten us and others just slam the door without uttering even a word.”
He said the enumerators are the very foundation of the Punjab Socio-Economic Registry Program. Without these workers, he said that there’s no data, no registry, and no progress. The bureaucrats can only issue empty press releases with hollow claims and lofty promises.
Inflation and Suspicion: A Deadly Duo
Ahmed Raheem, another enumerator, said that Pakistan’s inflation is hitting public lives hard, stretching tempers thinner than roadside tea stalls. He said that people are frustrated and when an official-looking stranger comes asking a volley of questions, the fuse burns fast.
“Why are you collecting our details? Are you adding new taxes?” one resident asked.
Another hinted that the data might be used to track who owns what, “so the government can bill us more to support the lavish life of bureaucracy and people at the helm of affairs.”
The enumerators, of course, know none of this is true. They’re not there to tax anyone. But amid mistrust, facts are weaker than frustration, he added.
The humble enumerator, they said, is not the villain of this story. He’s the government’s messenger, hoping someone will open the door without shouting.
If the Punjab government truly wants this campaign to succeed, it must back the people doing the knocking instead of the officers who prefer to avoid field visits. These officers are just giving orders that ignore the ground realities.
It’s crystal clear that every door that slams shut isn’t just closing on an enumerator — it’s closing on the very progress the Punjab government is trying to achieve, they claimed.
An officer, requesting anonymity, said that they are trying their best to support the field staff. He said that no one can vouch for the behaviour of every individual.
“We know that people are frustrated and avoid replying to the queries posed by the enumerators. But the public has to understand that the government is collecting data so that it can efficiently devise future projects to ensure facilities for the masses.
Names of the enumerators have been changed to protect their identity.
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