Government ready to hold population census next month: National Assembly informed

Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan said on Monday the government is committed to hold population census next month (March) depending upon availability of army personnel for security purpose. The Parliamentary Secretary informed this to the National Assembly while replying to supplementary question of the members. He said that for the purpose of Census in the country, the government has allocated a total of Rs 12 billion.
He said that as per decision of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), provincial governments would provide field force to conduct the Census in fair, free and transparent manner. He said that the CCI in its meeting held on March, 18 2015 decided that the Census may be held in March, 2016 as per proposal of the Statistics Division under the supervision of armed forces along with house listing census. He said that the funds will be shared from the divisible pool by all provinces jointly.
In pursuance of the above decision, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has initiated necessary steps towards the holding of the 6th Population and Housing Census in the country in March, 2016, he said. Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Development Syed Saqlain Shah Bukhari also told the House that there are 24 energy projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
He said 16 are prioritised projects which would be completed by next year while the rest will be completed in short, medium and long-term periods. Answering to a question, he said that according to the latest available estimates based on 2010-11 data, 12.4 percent of population is below poverty line, which translates to approximately 24 million people.
He said that a team of experts is preparing a report on poverty and based on its study revolutionary measures would be taken during next financial year to address the challenge of poverty. Parliamentary Secretary for Interior Maryam Aurangzeb told the House that 2067 cases relating to sectarian terrorism have been registered and 1818 arrests have been made under National Action Plan against terrorism.