The Sindh government has refused to help the federal government in connection with conducting digital census, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday wrote a letter to Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
In his letter, CM Shah called upon the federal minister to remove reservations ahead of the digital census. He pointed out that a full-fledged campaign for the awareness of census was not run by the federal government.
The chief minister said that major shortcomings regarding connectivity of the tablets and data storage have come to light. He said that people were not taken into confidence regarding personal information.
Mr Shah wrote that the first step of the population census i.e. house census has already been completed. He rued that the provincial government was not apprised of the results of the experimental stage of the census.
The letter also reminded the federal government that it has not released funds under the heads of staff hiring, security, transportation and other necessary arrangements.
In his letter, the chief minister also said that the district administration pointed out flaws in making blocs for conducting census but these faults were not removed so far.
The chief minister requested the federal government that besides allowing people to fill in their census forms themselves, the time for house census should also be increased.
He suggested that a committee under the head of federal planning minister be formed to bring transparency in the conduct of population census. He also proposed to include chief ministers of all the federal units in the committee.
It bears mentioning here that PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari also expressed his reservations over the digital census that is currently underway across the country.
Speaking to reporters on Monday at the residence of local PPP leader Shehryar Khakwani a day after his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned that the PPP may not remain part of the federal cabinet if their concerns were not addressed, Zardari said his party was “part of the government” but not a member of the PDM alliance, adding that they would consider the question of alliances with other political parties when the elections are held.
On Sunday, addressing a ceremony in Karachi, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari objected to the manner the digital census exercise was being conducted, saying it was unacceptable that elections in one province take place based on a different census, and other provincial polls are held based on a ‘flawed’ digital census.
Reporter Iqtidar Anwar