CCI okays conduct of 7th population census

ISLAMABAD: The Council of Common Interests Thursday approved conduct of 7th Population & Housing Census and establishment of a Census Monitoring Committee (CMC). Under the chair of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the CCI in its 49th meeting, decided to conduct the 7th Census adopting international best practices, using digital technology and GIS monitoring system. The prime minister asserted that the government wanted to ensure a credible census data for initiating policies and projects for welfare of citizens.

He congratulated CCI members on establishment of CCI’s permanent secretariat and stated that it manifested a collaborative spirit between the federal and provincial governments. He added that the federal government was fully committed to resolving national issues in consultation with all federating units and stakeholders.

The meeting approved annual report of CCI for the last fiscal year. The CCI held six meetings during the period, in which 21 agenda items were considered. As many as 13 decisions were implemented while six decisions were under process.

Discussing the implementation status of previous decisions, the CCI was informed that an independent CCI Secretariat has been established with a budget of Rs110 million. It will facilitate effective coordination between the federation 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.

The forum was informed that the housing census would be conducted prior to the population census.

The census monitoring committee will be chaired by the deputy chairman Planning Commission while all provincial chief secretaries, chairman Nadra, chief commissioner ICT and other senior officials will be its members. The committee will oversee and monitor census activities to ensure an expeditious, transparent and credible census operations.