Gujarat: Amit Shah to chair Western Zonal Council meeting in Gandhinagar on Monday

New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS) Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the 26th meeting of the Western Zonal Council in Gandhinagar of Gujarat on August 28.

“The Western Zonal Council comprises the states of Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. The meeting is being organised by the Inter State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat.

“The meeting will be attended by chief ministers of the member states and the administrator of the Union Territories, along with two senior ministers from each state.

“The chief secretaries, advisors and other senior officers of the state governments and Union Territories and union home secretary, secretary inter state council and other senior officers of the Central government will also participate in the meeting,” spokesperson of the MHA said.

Five Zonal Councils were established in the year 1957 under Section 15-22 of the States Reorganization Act, 1956.

The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of these five Zonal Councils, while the Chief Ministers of the States included in the respective Zonal Council and the Administrator/Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territories are its members.

Two more ministers from each state are nominated by the governor as members of the council. Each zonal council has also constituted a standing committee at the level of chief secretaries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed the need to leverage cooperative and competitive federalism for the all-round development of the country.

"Home Minister has stressed on the cooperative federalism approach to empower states and promote better understanding on the policy framework between the Centre and the states. He has advocated using zonal councils to resolve disputes and promote cooperative federalism. Under the chairmanship of Home Minister, meetings of all five zonal councils were organised last year. This year, all meetings of the respective standing committees have been held prior to the meetings of the zonal councils," the spokesperson further added.

The zonal councils hold discussions on a wide range of issues including infrastructure, mining, water supply, environment and forests and state-restructuring, as well as direct benefit transfer (DBT), wider expansion of telecommunications, internet and issues of general regional interests.

“Many issues of national importance are also discussed in each meeting of the Zonal Councils. These include speedy investigation of cases of sexual offence, rape against women and children, Implementation of the Scheme of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) for expeditious disposal of rape and POCSO Act cases, facilitation of banks/India Post Payment Bank branches within five kilometers in each village, addressing malnutrition among children through Poshan Abhiyan, reducing drop-out rate of school children, participation of government hospitals in Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and issues of general interest at national level," spokesperson said.