Union Home Minister Amit Shah to chair Eastern Zonal Council Meeting in Odisha today

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday will chair 24th Eastern Zonal Council Meeting (EZC) which is slated to take place in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.  Zonal Councils provides a sublime forum where problems between Centre and States, and also those amongst States, can be resolved through discussions and consultations.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, will also participate in meeting that will be chaired by Home Minister Shah. Furrmore, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be vice-chairman and host of meet.

Apprising about meeting, Home Ministry stated that meeting will take place on February 28 at 10:30 am in Lok Sewa Bhawan, Bhubaneswar.  last meeting of Eastern Zonal Council was last held in Kolkata on October 1, 2018.

According to Home Ministery, upcoming meeting will deliberate on nearly four dozen issues which inter alia include inter-state water issues, power transmission lines, royalty on and operationalisation of coals mines, land and forest clearances of rail projects, investigation of heius offenses, cattle smuggling across country's borders, lack of telecom and banking infrastructure in remote areas, petroleum projects, sharing pattern on centrally collected revenues, etc.

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Zonal Council Meetings

idea of creation of Zonal Councils was brought up by first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1956 when during course of debate on report of States Re-organisation Commission, he suggested that States proposed to be reorganised may be grouped into four or five zones having an Advisory Council 'to develop habit of cooperative working' among  States.

main objectives of setting up of Zonal Councils are to bring out national integration, enable  Centre and States to co-operate and exchange ideas and experiences as well as to establishing a climate of co-operation amongst States for successful and speedy execution of development projects.

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(With Inputs from ANI)