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Union Home Minister Amit Shah met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay in Chennai on Wednesday, ahead of the meeting of the Southern Zonal Council scheduled to be held at Kovalam in Chengalpattu district on August 20 (Thursday).
The meeting of the Southern Zonal Council, which is scheduled to be held on Thursday, is expected to be attended by the Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries of its member states, including Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Secretary of the Inter-State Council Secretariat, and other senior officials of state and Central ministries and departments are also expected to join the meeting. The meeting is expected to discuss various issues of common interest among the southern states, including pending inter-State matters and issues relating to regional development and coordination. The 30th Southern Zonal Council meeting, held in Thiruvananthapuram, discussed 26 issues, of which nine were resolved, while 17 were reserved for further consideration. Of the total issues discussed, nine were related to the reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh. While chairing the previous meeting, Shah urged Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to settle their pending issues to benefit the people of the two states and contribute to the all-round development of the southern region. The Home Minister had also called upon all member states of the council to find a joint solution to issues related to the sharing of water. The five Zonal Councils, Western, Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Central Zonal Councils, were set up under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, to foster inter-State cooperation and coordination among states. The Zonal Councils are mandated to discuss and make recommendations on matters of common interest in areas including economic and social planning, border disputes, linguistic minorities, and inter-State transport. They are regional fora of cooperative endeavour for states linked with each other economically, politically, and culturally. Being compact, high-level bodies, especially meant for looking after the interests of respective zones, they are capable of focusing attention on specific issues, taking into account regional factors, while keeping the national perspective in view. (ANI)
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