The Council of Common Interests (CCI) during its 49th meeting held on Thursday with Prime Minister Imran Khan in chair approved the conduct of the 7th Population and Housing Census as well as the establishment of “Census Monitoring Committee”.
The committee will be chaired by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, all Provincial Chief Secretaries, Chairman National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Chief Commissioner Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), and other senior officials.
The committee will oversee and monitor the census activities to ensure expeditious, transparent, and credible census operations, a press release issued by the PM Media Office here said.
As per recommendations of the Census Advisory Committee, the CCI decided to conduct the 7th Census adopting international best practices, using digital technology and a GIS monitoring system. It was apprised that Housing Census would be conducted before the Population Census.
While welcoming the Chief Ministers, the Prime Minister stated that the frequency of CCI meetings can be increased as per the demands of the provinces.
He congratulated the CCI members on the establishment of CCI’s permanent secretariat and stated that it manifested a collaborative spirit between the Federal and Provincial governments.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the federal government was fully committed to resolving national issues in consultation with all federating units and stakeholders.
He further emphasized that the government wanted to have credible census data that can be used for initiating policies and projects for the welfare of citizens.
The meeting approved the Annual Report of CCI for the Fiscal Year 2020-21. It was informed that a total of 6 meetings were conducted during the 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 Rs110.928 million.
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.