Amit Shah to address Western Zonal Council meeting n Pune on Saturday

Mumbai: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address the Western Zonal Council (WZC) meeting comprising the states Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and the Union Territories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu in Pune on Saturday.

Maharashtra is playing host to the 27th WZC meeting.

It is being organised by the Inter State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Maharashtra government.

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

In the spirit that strong states make strong nations, zonal councils provide a platform to enhance cooperation through a systematic mechanism for regular dialogue and discussion on issues affecting two or more states or the Center and the States,” an official statement said on the eve of the meeting.

Shah has stressed on the cooperative federalism approach to empower states and promote better understanding between the Centre and the states.

“In the Modi government, the role of zonal councils has been changed from advisory to action platform to make them effective. Meetings of respective standing committees of all five zonal councils, except Southern Council, were organised last year,” the statement said.

The five zonal councils were established in 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.

Chief Ministers of the states included in zonal council become vice-chairperson by turn. 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.

The WZC will be attended by the 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.

Many issues of national importance are also discussed in each meeting of the zonal councils. These include power operations, urban master plan, eliminating malnutrition among children through POSHAN Abhiyan, discussion on reducing the dropout rate of school children, participation of government hospitals in Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, strengthening Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and other issues of common interest.

The zonal councils take up issues involving the Centre and the states and between one or more states in the region. Thus, the zonal councils provide an excellent platform for resolving disputes and issues between the Centre and the states and between the several states in the region.

The zonal councils hold discussions on a wide range of issues including speedy investigation of cases of sexual offence/rape against women and children and implementation of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) for expeditious disposal of such cases, facilitation of banks/India Post Payment Bank branches within 5 km in each village, implementation of Emergency Response Support System (ERSS-112), issues relating to infrastructure, mining, environment and forests, food security parameters and other subjects of common interest at the regional level.