Amit Shah arrives in Ranchi, to chair Eastern Zonal Council meeting on Thursday

Ranchi, Jul 9 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Ranchi on Wednesday night to chair the Eastern Zonal Council meeting on July 10, in which about 70 representatives from Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal are expected to participate, an official said.

Shah arrived around 10 pm at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi amid heavy security.

Under Sections 15 to 22 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, five zonal councils were established in the country.

The Union home minister is the chairperson of these five zonal councils, and the chief ministers, lieutenant governors and administrators of the member states and Union territories are the members.

"Massive security arrangements have been made in the state capital in view of the Eastern Zonal Council meeting tomorrow," an official said.

At the meeting, the council is likely to take up issues such as the speedy investigation of cases of sexual offences, implementation of fast-track special courts for their swift disposal, providing brick-and-mortar banking facilities in every village and implementation of the Emergency Response Support System, another official said.

Issues of various common interest, such as strengthening education, health, electricity, urban planning, and the cooperative system, may also be taken up, he said.

From Jharkhand, Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Finance Minister Radhakrishna Kishore, Minister Deepak Birua, Chief Secretary Alka Tiwari, Principal Secretary (Home) Vandana Dadel, and DGP Anurag Gupta are likely to attend the meeting.

Soren, who was in New Delhi over the last fortnight, has returned to Ranchi to join the meeting.

Bihar will be represented by Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary and minister Vijay Choudhary, who have already arrived in Ranchi, the official said.

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Deputy CM Parvati Parida have also reached Ranchi to attend the meeting.

West Bengal will be represented by minister Chandrima Bhattacharya.

Jharkhand, among other matters, is likely to raise the issue of Rs 1.36 lakh crore pending dues from PSUs such as Coal India with regard to mining.

The meeting was originally scheduled on May 10 but had to be postponed in view of the tensions between India and Pakistan.

As per the government, the chief minister of one member state (rotating every year) acts as the vice-chairperson, while the governor nominates two ministers as members of the council from each member state.

Each zonal council has also formed a permanent committee at the level of the chief secretaries. Issues proposed by the states are initially presented to the permanent committee of the zonal council for discussion, officials said.

After consideration by the permanent committee, the remaining issues are then presented to the zonal council meeting for further deliberation.

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

The role of the zonal councils is advisory, but over the past few years, these councils have proven to be an important platform for promoting mutual understanding and cooperation in various fields, officials said.

More than 60 meetings of the various zonal councils and their permanent committees have been held in the last 11 years, they said. PTI NAM SOM