PA resolution demands addressing Sindh’s reservations about census

The Sindh Assembly on Monday passed a resolution with a majority vote calling for the federal government to remove reservations of the provincial government about the ongoing digital population census in the country.

The resolution was tabled by Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro. It maintained that the people of Sindh had been kept in dark about the affairs related to the census. It read that the concerned provincial authorities were not being given access to the census data and the census dashboard had also not been working.

The resolution said that doubts had emerged about the census drive due to lack of transparency in the process and no mechanism had been given in the census drive to count the housing units damaged in the floods of the last year in the province.

It also stated that the district administrations in the province had also pointed out flaws in the census mechanism. Legislators of the opposition resorted to a protest during the passage of the resolution as they tore copies of the agenda of the session. It was not known at what point the opposition lawmakers protested.

Meanwhile, the pre-budget discussion in the House continued for the second day amid uproar caused by opposition legislators. Lawmaker of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Firdous Shamim Naqvi during his speech in the House doffed his Sherwani and cap in protest against the miseries of the destitute people due to skyrocketing prices of essential products.

Speaker Aga Siraj Khan Durrani expressed disapproval at the move of the PTI lawmaker to unbutton his shirt. He asked Naqvi to button his shirt during the session to maintain the decorum of the assembly.

The PTI legislator said the poor in the province did not have the financial means to feed their family members. He added that there had been an unprecedented hike in the prices of essential food products as common people could not buy them anymore.

He suggested that cultivable farmlands in the possession of the government should be given to small farmers for their livelihood. Lawmaker of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party Sharmila Farooqui said Karachi desperately required an effective master plan to resolve the basic civic issues of its residents. She demanded that more housing projects be launched in the city for its underprivileged residents.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan legislator Mangla Sharma suggested that the next provincial budget should contain allocations for latest security surveillance cameras to keep an effective check on the street crime in Karachi. She said the Karachi police had completely failed to tackle the issue of street crime.