ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The 49th Meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) held with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Chair approved the conduct of the 7th Population & Housing Census as well as the establishment of “Census Monitoring Committee”.
The decision to conduct the 7th Census was made as per recommendations of the Census Advisory Committee, and it will be conducted adopting international best practices, using the digital technology and GIS monitoring system.
It was apprised in the CCI meeting that Housing Census would be conducted before the Population Census.
The Census Monitoring Committee will be chaired by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, all Provincial Chief Secretaries, the Chairman NADRA, the Chief Commissioner ICT, and other Senior Officials.
The Committee will oversee and monitor census activities to ensure an expeditious, transparent, and credible census operations.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Imran Khan emphasized that government wants 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 Financial Year (FY) 2020-21.
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 six 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 Rs 110.928 million.
An independent Secretariat will facilitate effective coordination between the federal and provincial governments.
The prime minister congratulated the CCI Members on the establishment of CCI’s Permanent Secretariat and said that it manifests a collaborative spirit 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.
Imran Khan said that the frequency of CCI meetings can be increased as per the demands of the provinces. He emphasized that the federal government is fully committed to resolve national issues in consultation with all federating units and stakeholders.
