KARACHI: The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, has said that the controversial census of 2017 has shown 47.8 million population of the province of Sindh whereas its population, as per UNICEF survey, stands at 61.04 million
“If the population is counted 61.04 million (in the census), the share of the province in the national resources would rise from about 24 percent to 29 percent, ” said CM Murad Ali Shah while addressing a press conference here at the CM House on Wednesday. He was accompanied by provincial ministers Nasir Shah, Taimur Talpur and Murtaza Wahab.
The CM Shah said that the census of 2017 became controversial. The provisional results attracted widespread criticism. “Almost all the chief ministers, including that of Punjab criticized its results,” he said.
The CM disclosed that in the Census 2017 declared Sindh having a total of 8,478,047 households with 5.64 persons per house, constituting a population of 47,854,510. However, “according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey undertaken by all the provincials governments in coordination with Unicef the average household for Sindh is 7.2 persons per household,” he said and added based on that survey the total population of the province would come to 61,041,938 as opposed to 47,854,510 in Census 2017.” There were similar disparities regarding the population figures of other provinces as well, he said.
Talking about the Coronavirus situation, the chief minister warned it is aggravating. “I had proposed the federal government to ban inter-provincial transport for at least two weeks so the spread of the virus could be contained,” he said and added if the government had done so the situation would have been better today. The CM said that through a presentation he was told that the England variant of Covid-19, was brought here by the people who travelled from England to Pakistan. “Now, the British government has banned travel from Pakistan,” he said. He asked the federal government to make necessary arrangements to boost mass vaccination.
Murad Ali Shah said that the growth of our national economy has been projected at 1.3 to 1.5 percent due to the pandemic. But, he deplored, “the average growth of the South Asian region is five percent during the prevailing pandemic which shows where our economy stands.” “The federal government on the advice of the IMF changed NEPRA law under which power tariff would be increased by Rs5.25 in June 2021 and a similar increase would be made every year, which he said would deprived the people of their purchasing power.” “The current account deficit had only improved because the foreign remittances sent by the 'retiring' Pakistanis, losing jobs abroad due to downturn of economies,” Murad Ali Shah said. The retiring benefits have improved our current account position but this would not last long, he said.
Regarding the TLP sit-in, the chief minister said “we offered them designated areas for peaceful protests but they went ahead to block at 26 places, of them 24 have been cleared." He said sadly five people died in the protests, 18 were injured, including 12 policemen. Talking about JPMC, NICVD and NICH hospitals in Karachi, the CM said that the prime minister has deputed his SAPM on health Dr Faisal to resolve the issue, and we are making a headway. The hospitals, the CM expressed the hope, would continue to remain under the control of provincial government.
