KARACHI: The process of the digital census has already begun in the country with Punjab taking a lead and it is necessary that this crucial process should also be started in Sindh with an aim to ensure error-free census in the mega city, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor.
He said the 7th national census is being kicked off early next year in February and will be conducted across the country. It will be the first-ever digital census in the history of Pakistan.
He said the Punjab government has already begun digital census process, targeting its completion by April — the month Election Commission of Pakistan has scheduled local government elections in the province. However, the KPK government is also set to start the digital census in February.
Altaf Shakoor said the results of the previous population census in Karachi sadly became controversial, creating a lot of political tensions.
He said every effort must be taken to ensure transparent census process in whole country, especially in the megacity Karachi and all political stakeholders including the Pasban Democratic Party should be taken in confidence.
He said fair distribution of resources is a must to create an equitable society in Pakistan and transparent census is the pivotal tool in this regard.
He said in prevailing economic conditions we can't afford a new controversy over the census results so the national institutions should take utmost prior care in this regard.
Altaf Shakoor regretted that the mega city Karachi is not being given its due share from national resources pool. He said the revenue collection figures should also be digitalised so that every citizen may know what their city or town is contributing in revenue collection and what it is getting in return as its share.
He said Karachi is a revenue engine of whole Pakistan and keeping it well-oiled is in the national interest.
He said the megacity needs a huge budget to upgrade its civic infrastructure and social services facilities.
He said the citizens, as well as political parties of Karachi are not happy over the previous results of the census in the mega city so it is imperative that every citizen living in the city should be properly counted in the upcoming digital census in the best national interest.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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