HM Amit Shah to chair Central Zonal Council meet in Bhopal Monday

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will chair a Central Zonal Council meeting in Bhopal on Monday where issues like connectivity, power, sharing of river water, and other issues of common interests will be discussed, officials said.

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.

The meeting of the council will discuss issues of common interests in areas of connectivity, power, river water sharing, and other issues of common interests, 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 is scrutinized and prioritized.

The 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.

The regional councils provide a forum for discussion in a structured manner on issues affecting one or more states or issues between the Centre and the states.

In the last eight years under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the number of meetings of the zonal councils and its standing committees has increased by three times, the official said.

Regional councils help in developing a coordinated approach through discussion and exchange of views between states on important issues of social and economic development.

The zonal councils take up issues involving the centers and states and one or many states falling in the zone.

The zonal councils, thus, provide a forum for resolving disputes and irritants between the Centre and the states and among many states in the zone.

The meetings of the zonal councils are used by the states and union territories to share their best practices.

The councils also discuss a broad range of issues which include boundary related disputes, security, infrastructure-related matters like road, transport, industries, water, and power, matters about forests and environment, housing, education, food security, tourism, and transport, etc.

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 the chief ministers of the host state (to be chosen by rotation every year) are the vice-chairman.

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