'Dogs tied, gates open' as Sri Lanka begins head count

Asian Economic News, July 23, 2001

COLOMBO, July 17 Kyodo

Sri Lanka dusted off a 20-year-old slogan to encourage people to cooperate with census officials, advising them to ''tie their dogs, keep the gates open, leave a light on and stay awake'' Tuesday night when the enumerator comes round between 6 p.m. and midnight.

Streets in most parts of the country emptied by noon and public transport reduced to a trickle as more than 125,000 enumerators prepared to visit homes and offices for the long overdue head-count.

Most offices permitted a half-day holiday for the country's 13th census and schools were closed.

The ''Tie your dog...'' was also used in the country's last census, in 1981.

''(The slogan) is still relevant,'' said Wimal Nanayakkara, director general of census. ''We still don't want our people bitten by dogs or standing outside gates, knocking for hours.''

Although the count has been successful in most parts, Nanayakkara said enumerators in the north and east may be hindered in their duty by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels who have been fighting since 1983 for a separate Tamil homeland.

The rebels have warned officials and volunteers against participating in the government census.

Several Tamil parties also opposed the tally, saying the 18-year war had caused widespread displacement of persons from their original homes.

''This is not the correct time to hold a census,'' said Veerasingham Anandasangaree, president of the Tamil United Liberation Front. ''Because so many people are displaced, the census will produce an inaccurate picture of population distribution in the north and east.''

The parties fear the census will show smaller populations in the disputed areas, thereby affecting allocations for parliament and national universities, usually calculated by the government on census statistics.

''We are having problems in the north and east but we hope the enumerators will not be too scared to conduct the count,'' said Nanayakkara.

He expects the population to be around 19.4 million and said basic population details will be released in about three days.