ISLAMABAD: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, an ally of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led coalition government, has claimed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the demand of the MQM-P about the ongoing digital census has decided to extend the facility of self-enumeration till the completion of door-to-door population census.

“Prime Minister Sahib agreed to our demands that high-rise building in Karachi should not be considered as one unit and the date of digital census should be extended,” said MQM-P convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui while talking to Dawn after a meeting with the premier.

However, no official word came from PM Office about the party’s claim till the filing of this report on Wednesday evening.

While the month-long door-to-door digital census [through tablets] drive kicked off on March 1, the facility of self-enumeration launched on Feb 20 under the 7th Housing and Population Census was scheduled to expire tomorrow [Friday].

High-rises won’t be considered one unit; self-enumeration to be extended until door-to-door ends

In Karachi, hundreds of thousands of housing units remained uncounted because of the practice of counting one high-rise apartment building as one unit, Mr Siddiqui said, adding that the main gate of highrises were marked in census rather than each and every apartment. He explained, “Some of the high-rise buildings have hundreds of apartments yet they are considered one unit, resulting in inaccurate population count in country’s commercial hub.”

Regarding time frame for the self-enumeration facility, the MQM-P chief said he had asked the prime minister that the facility should not be time-barred rather it should be continued till the completion of door-to-door digital census.

He said the prime minister assured him he would take ‘appropriate’ action on the demands of the key ruling coalition partner.

Solarisation of buildings

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sharif directed the relevant officials to complete installation of solar-powered panels at government buildings in Islamabad within seven weeks.

The step would reduce reliance on imported fuel and would generate environment-friendly electricity, the PM noted while presiding over a meeting held to review the progress of solarisation of federal government buildings.

The meeting was informed that 496 solar panels would be installed in Islamabad, 340 in big cities including Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Quetta, and 1,255 panels at ‘other’ public buildings.

Earlier on Tuesday, the prime minister received a detailed briefing on 10,000MV Solarisation Project. In this connection, a policy will be presented before the federal cabinet regarding manufacturing of solar panels in the country.

Also, a policy about local manufacturing of solar motorbikes was said to be in final stage.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, federal ministers Khwaja Asif, Ishaq Dar, PM’s adviser Ahad Khan Cheema, Special Assistant to the PM Jahanzeb Khan and relevant officials attended the meeting.

Kartarpur ambassador The prime minister, meanwhile, approved the appointment of Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora as ambassador-at-large for Kartarpur Corridor. Sardar Ramesh, who is also the central general secretary of the PML-N minorities wing, will work in the position in an honourary capacity, according to a government notification.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2023