Union Home Minister Amit Shah will host the meeting of Eastern Zonal Council in Ranchi on July 10 where around 70 delegates from the four northeastern states — Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal — are likely to attend, an official stated on Wednesday. Security has been tightened in Ranchi in anticipation of the meeting of the zonal council and Shah is expected to reach the state capital on Wednesday evening.
Five zonal councils have been formed in the country under Sections 15 to 22 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
The Union home minister is the chairman of the five zonal councils, and the chief ministers/lieutenant governors/administrators of the member states and Union territories form the members.
"Massive security arrangements have been put in place in the state capital in connection with the Eastern Zonal Council meeting here tomorrow, which will be chaired by the Home Minister," the official added.
The zonal councils address various key issues such as discussing national-level broad issues like the expeditious inquiry of cases of sexual offences on women and children, establishment of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSC) for their quick disposal, offering brick-and-mortar banking services within the prescribed area of each village, establishment of the Emergency Response Support System and other regional-level common interest matters like strengthening nutrition, education, health, electricity, urban planning, and the cooperative system, the official said.
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Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Finance Minister Radhakrishna Kishore, Minister Deepak Birua, Chief Secretary Alka Tiwari, Principal Secretary (Home) Vandana Dadel, and DGP Anurag Gupta from Jharkhand are expected to be present in the meeting.
Bihar will probably be represented by ministers Vijay Choudhary and Samrat Choudhary, the official said, while Odisha's delegation could comprise Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Deputy CM Parvati Parida and West Bengal is probably going to be represented by Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya.
Jharkhand, among other things, is likely to raise the issue of Rs 1.36 lakh crore pending payments from PSUs like Coal India in the backdrop of mining.
Ranchi Police have also already released a traffic advisory banning auto-rickshaws between Birsa Chowk and Sujata Chowk on July 10. Apart from this, the movement of goods vehicles within city limits will be banned from 6 am to 10 pm on the day.
The meeting was first scheduled for May 10 but was delayed keeping in mind the India-Pakistan tense atmosphere at the time. According to the government, the annual rotating chief minister of one member state is the vice-chairperson while two ministers are nominated as members of the council by the governor from each member state.
Every zonal council has also established a permanent committee at the chief secretary level. Proposed issues by the states are first put before the permanent committee of the respective zonal council for consideration, officials added.
Once the matter is given consideration by the permanent committee, the outstanding items are referred to the zonal council meeting for further discussion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the importance of deriving cooperative and competitive federalism to develop the country all-round, they added.
Taking a belief that the strong states constitute a strong nation, the zonal councils give a formal framework for discussion and dialogue on problems common to two or more states or Centre and states and, through it, act as an effective platform to boost mutual cooperation, they stated.
The advisory role of the zonal councils has, in recent years, been found to be a significant contributor to fostering healthy relationships of mutual respect and cooperation in all spheres. Over 60 meetings of the different zonal councils and their permanent committees have taken place during the last eleven years.
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