ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Council of Common Interests (CCI) Friday agreed on holding the national census from March 15 next year involving the House Listing and Population Census in one go.
The CCI meeting held here at the PM House also agreed that the census may be held in two phases; with each phase to be carried out in all the provinces simultaneously.
The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, agreed that the census would be carried out in close coordination of provincial governments.
The CCI decided to form a committee comprising Secretary Statistics and four chief secretaries to address the implementation issues, a statement from the PM House said.
Pakistan held a census every 10 years and has so far conducted census in 1951, 1961, 1972, 1981 and 1998. The March 2017 Census would be held after a gap of 19 years.
The CCI discussed establishment of National Security Fund and referred it to the National Finance Commission, being the competent forum, for decision.
The Council approved National Forest Policy in principle and directed the Minister of Climate Change to work with the provincial governments to ensure there was no encroachment on provincial powers.
The National Forest Policy would enable the federal government to provide technical and financial assistance to the provincial governments in line with their own provincial policy framework and ensure compliance of international conventions.
The CCI ratified payment of net hydel profit to the Government of Punjab. It was agreed that Rs 38.12 billion will be settled by issuance of irrevocable promissory note of one year duration to the Government of Punjab by December 2016.
A Rs 44.59 billion balance would be paid in three equal installments after tariff determination by the CCI and NEPRA, the statement said.
The meeting was attended by Pir Syed Sadaruddin Shah Rashidi, Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and HRD, Lt. General (rtd) Abdul Qadir Baloch, Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, and Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony.
Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjab, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Minister Sindh, Pervez Khattak, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri, Chief Minister Balochistan also attended the meeting.
