KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali has urged the federal government to take necessary measures to make the 6th Population Census credible by developing a mechanism to make the block-wise information that would be compiled on daily basis should be made accessible to the general public.
This he said in a DO letter he has written to Federal Minister Ishaq Dar the other day.
The chief minister says “the exercise of undertaking the 6th Population census is a gigantic task which requires concentrated efforts and resources. It is extremely important to accurately count our citizens, as our fiscal and other planning is based on this dat. We need to ensure that each and every citizen is counted and that there is a no exaggeration of numbers.”
The chief minister urges Mr Dar that it is imperative that his exercise is held in an efficient and transparent manner, so that the true picture is reflected. He further says in his letter “this is necessary to ensure the restoration of the trust and confidence of people in the census.”
The chief minister also says that in order to conduct the 6th Population Census in a credible manner, according to the parameters of the law some necessary measures must be taken.
He has given same recommendations to Mr Dra which include, “the summary of the block-wise census information that would be compiled on daily basis on the Population Census form REN-2, shall be made accessible to the general public, by hosting it on the Website of the Statistics Division. It should also be made available in the office of the District Census officer for public security”.
The chief minister’s other recommendation is “a mechanism needs to be devised to allow the general public to lodge their complaints before the exercise is finalized. A body can be formed at the federal/provincial levels for redressal of these grievances.”
The third recommendation of Syed Murad Ali shah in the letter is “the compulsory condition of having CNIC to be counted needs to be relaxed. There are many other forms of identification available to prove the identity of the people, which can be utilized in case of those persons who do not have CNIC.”
The chief minister hopes that in order to make the census credible, he looks forward to a positive response. “This will ensure that the exercise is conducted in a transparent manner and becomes acceptable to all,” the letter concludes.—APP
