KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has set up a ‘Census Complaint Cell’ at CM House after receiving reports that high-rise buildings, comprising a number of apartments, are being counted as a single house. “If it is true, it is against the assurances given to us by the Census Commission and Federal Minister Ishaq Dar that he would ensure transparency in the census process,” he said.

The chief minister, who was talking to the media after attending a meeting with the business community at a local hotel on Thursday, said there would be no compromise on transparency and accuracy of the census.

The chief minister recalled that he had written a letter to the federal minister and requested him to take necessary measures to make the census credible. In response to the letter “Mr Dar has assured me that he would ensure transparency.”

A high-rise counted as one house is not acceptable, says Murad

Besides, he said, the provincial census commissioner had also told him that apartments or multiple residential accommodations would be counted separately and now they should not to be marked as one house. “Let us see what they are doing and we would get it verified,” the chief minister said and added that there would be no compromise on its transparency and accuracy.

According to an official statement the Census Complaint Cell at CM House is linked with two landline phones and two fax numbers receiving public complaints daily from 8am to 10pm on 021-99207350, 99202180; Fax 021-99202007, 99202000. The chief minister has posted Deputy Secretary M. Aslam Soomro to supervise the working of the complaint cell.

Textile City project

The Sindh government has decided to continue Pakistan Textile City Ltd in partnership with the Port Qasim Authority by enhancing its share to foil efforts to fail the project.

This was stated by CM Shah while presiding over a special meeting on the project and its related issues.

The meeting was attended by Industries Minister Manzoor Wassan, Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon, Principal Secretary to CM Naveed Kamran Baloch, PQA Chairman Agha Jan Akhtar and Industries Secretary Raheem Soomro.

The chief minister said that he was against the winding up of the textile city project as it had a great potential and his government would make all-out efforts to launch it with all the facilities such as water, gas and drainage.

Mr Wassan, briefing the chief minister, said that he had visited the project and it was spread over 1,250 acres at the PQA. In 2006 the Sindh and federal governments had planned to launch the project but failed to do so.

Mr Akhtar also said that the project was viable if all the issues being faced by the project were resolved.

Briefing the meeting, the secretary for industries said the paid-up capital of the company was Rs1,250 million, of which the federal government had contributed Rs500m and it had 40 per cent shareholding. The federal and provincial governments had contributed Rs199m and Rs271m, respectively, for the water supply line from Dhabeji to Karachi being constructed by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.

The chief minister constituted a committee comprising PQA chairman Agha Jan Akhtar and Secretary for Industries Raheem Soomro to visit the project and review the facilities developed and required there and then submit a report to him.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2017