Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Musadik Malik on Tuesday said the government was focusing on transparency in its affairs, planning, human capital and environmental protection.
Addressing a press conference here, he said transparency in governance was a prerequisite to eliminate corruption from the society. He said the main objective of his interaction with media was to inform the public about the day-to-day activities and engagements of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
He said the prime minister attached high priority to human resource development and public welfare, and directed the departments and ministries concerned to every possible step in that regard. He said the Bureau of Statistics was an independent organisation, which in collaboration with the Pakistan Army conducted the population census in a transparent manner.
The country, he said, was divided into different blocks to conduct the household survey whereas the whole process was supervised by assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners at tehsil and district levels. Both the officials, he said, were the representatives of provincial governments. Moreover, different committees were also constituted to supervise the census work in order to compile authentic data for policy formulation, he added.
He said training process of the census staff and hiring of other supporting staff was also completed by administrative officers of the provincial governments. Musadik Malik said army personnel were also deputed for the security of teams as well as compiling data separately to make the process more authentic and credible.
He said demarcation of urban or rural areas was not the mandate of the PBS, which was carried out by the provincial governments through local bodies. He said the PBS had not yet presented its final report. There might be a difference of 1 or 2 per cent in the figures in the plenary and final reports, he added.
He said the provinces could raise their queries about the census with the PBS for their satisfaction. Dr Musadik Malik said the ECC, which met here with the prime minister in the chair, approved release of two-month salaries for the employees of Pakistan Still Mills.
The ECC, he said, also tasked the Higher Education Commission to take appropriate measures for enhancing the quality and standard of the education in universities. It was aimed at raising the ranking of Pakistan universities and get them included among the top 50 institutions of the world, he added. He said the prime minister also directed to expedite the campaign for the eradication of polio from the country as due to the efforts of the government so far only three cases had been registered during the current year.
He said the ECC also approved the supply of wheat to Gilgit-Baltitstan on quarterly basis during winter and on monthly basis during the summer. He said the prime minister also directed to formulate a national water policy in order to provide clean drinking water to the people, besides bringing parity among the rich and the poor. The ECC, he said, also decided to introduce Euro-3 and Euro-4 standards vehicles to protect the environment. To a question, he said the government was taking all the stakeholders on board to formulate a comprehensive policy on Pak-US relations.
