National

Council of Common Interests approves conduct of 7th Population & Housing Census

ISLAMABAD, Jan 13 (SABAH): The Council of Common Interests (CCI) has approved conduct of 7th Population and Housing Census and establishment of Census Monitoring Committee.

The approval was granted at the 49th CCI meeting, held in Islamabad on Thursday with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.

The Census Monitoring Committee will be chaired by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, all Provincial Chief Secretaries, Chairman NADRA, Chief Commissioner Islamabad Capital Territory and other senior officials. The Committee will oversee and monitor census activities to ensure an expeditious, transparent and credible census operations.

As per recommendations of the Census Advisory Committee, CCI decided to conduct the 7th Census adopting international best practices, using digital technology and GIS monitoring system. It was apprised that Housing Census would be conducted before the Population Census.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister emphasized that Government wants to have a credible census data that can be used for initiating policies and projects for welfare of citizens.

While welcoming the Chief Ministers, he said the frequency of CCI meetings can be increased as per demands of the provinces.

The Prime Minister congratulated CCI members on establishment of CCI’s permanent secretariat and said that it manifests a collaborative spirit between the Federal and Provincial governments.

Imran Khan emphasized that the Federal Government is fully committed to resolve national issues in consultation with all federating units and stakeholders.

The meeting also approved Annual Report of CCI for the last fiscal year. It was informed that a total of six meetings were conducted during FY 2020-21 during which 21 agenda items were considered with 13 decisions implemented and 06 decisions under process.

While discussing the implementation status of previous decisions, the CCI was informed that an independent CCI Secretariat has been established with a budget of 110.928 million rupees. An independent Secretariat will facilitate effective coordination between the Federal and Provincial governments.

The CCI also decided that additional water requirements for Karachi would be discussed by the committee formed to reconcile views of the provinces at the political and technical levels and issues related to water.