Amit Shah chairs 23rd meeting of Central Zonal Council

New Delhi, Aug 22: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday held a Central Zonal Council meeting in Bhopal where issues like connectivity, power, sharing of river water and other matters of common interests will be discussed.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be attending the meeting.

The Central Zonal Council comprises Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The meeting will be attended by chief ministers, ministers, chief secretaries, principal secretaries and senior officers of the member states and Central government, a home ministry official said.

There will be discussions on issues of common interests in areas of connectivity, power, river water sharing and other matters, the official said.

As per the established procedure and practice, the zonal council meeting is preceded by a standing committee of the council in which the agenda items to be placed before the council are scrutinised and prioritised.

MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in a statement said Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel are also arriving to take part in the meeting.

It is an important meeting in which the welfare of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, farmers' welfare, crime against women and children, internal security and prevention of terrorism and Naxalism will be discussed at length, which will benefit all the four states, Chouhan said.

The Narendra Modi government has been regularly holding meetings of the zonal councils as a part of its overall strategy to strengthen and promote cooperative and competitive federalism in the country, another official said.

There are five zonal councils in the country which were set up in 1957 under Section 15-22 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.

Union home minister is the chairman of each of these zonal councils and chief ministers of the host state (to be chosen by rotation every year) is the vice-chairman.

Two more ministers from each state are nominated as members by the governor.

Shah will later lay the foundation stone of a National Forensic Sciences University and address a seminar before returning to Delhi on Monday night.