The Council of Common Interests (CCI), in its 49th meeting on Thursday, green-lighted the 7th Population and Housing Census along with the establishment of the Census Monitoring Committee.
The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, who, while welcoming the chief ministers, called for increasing the frequency of these meetings as per the demands of the provinces.
The premier also congratulated the council members on the establishment of CCI’s permanent secretariat, adding that it was a manifestation of the collaborative spirit of federal and provincial governments.
He also emphasised that the federal government is “fully committed to resolving national issues in consultation with all federating units and stakeholders”.
The Census Monitoring Committee, which would oversee and monitor census activities to ensure expeditious, transparent, and credible census operations, would be chaired by deputy chairman of Planning Commission, and would comprise all provincial chief secretaries, chairman of NADRA, chief commissioner of Islamabad, besides other senior officials.
As per recommendations of the Census Advisory Committee, the CCI decided to conduct the census using international best practices, using digital technology and a GIS monitoring system. It was apprised that the housing census would be conducted before the population census.
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Prime Minister Imran highlighted that the incumbent government wanted to have credible census data that could be used for initiating policies and projects for the welfare of citizens.
The council 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 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 while six decisions were 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.
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