Union Home Minister Amit Shah chairs Eastern Zonal Council in Ranchi
The meeting was attended by Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren, Chief Minister of Odisha Mohan Charan Manjhi, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Samrat Chaudhary and Minister of State for Finance of West Bengal Chandrima Bhattacharya, Chief Secretaries and other senior officials of the member states and senior officials of the Central Government.
The Eastern Zonal Council comprises the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. The meeting was organised by the Inter-State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, in collaboration with the Government of Jharkhand.
In his address, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said that in Operation Sindoor, the forces made the whole world experience their valour, precision and bravery and for their courage and valour, the Eastern Regional Council unanimously passed a thanksgiving resolution for the bravery of the forces. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has displayed strong willpower and presented India's strong intention to end terrorism before the whole world.
The Union Home and Cooperation Minister said that the land of Jharkhand has contributed a lot in the freedom struggle of the country and many great freedom fighters including 'Bhagwan' Birsa Munda have led the freedom movements of the country from this land. He said that the entire eastern India has been a land of devotion, knowledge, music, scientific research and revolution. Eastern India has contributed a lot in establishing the basic ideals of education.
Shah said that many great personalities including Swami Vivekananda, Birsa Munda, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Babu Jagjivan Ram have led the country in many fields from this land. The confluence of cultural consciousness, devotional consciousness and revolution has happened on this land.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi has presented the vision of TEAM BHARAT to the country on the basis of cooperative federalism. Under Modi ji's vision of TEAM BHARAT, we should all move forward together to achieve the goal of development of India through the development of states and making India a fully developed nation by 2047. To strengthen our federal structure, the Inter-State Council and Regional Council have been given a basis in the Constitution and law and meetings of regional councils are held under the same', Amit Shah said during the meeting.
He said that during 2014 to 2025, the pace of organising these meetings has more than doubled and they have become more productive
Union Home and Cooperation Minister said that the Regional Councils were conceived with the objective of making them a strong foundation of cooperative federalism. Regional Councils have now transformed from Advisory to Actionable Platform and through these we have been able to resolve mutual issues between the States and the Centre to a large extent. Regional Councils have now become Engine of Cooperation instead of Forum of Discussion.
A total of 25 meetings of Regional Councils were held between 2004 and 2014, while between 2014 and 2025 it has more than doubled to 63. He said that we have moved forward from 2-3 meetings per year to holding about 6 meetings per year.
Shah said that a total of 1580 issues were discussed in these meetings, out of which 1287, i.e. 83 per cent, issues have been resolved, which is a matter of great satisfaction for all of us. He said that the resolution of 83 per cent of the issues in the meetings of the regional councils in the Modi government shows the significance of these meetings.
In today's meeting, long pending complex issues related to Masanjore Dam, Taiyabpur Barrage and Indrapuri Reservoir were discussed in detail. Along with this, issues related to division of assets and liabilities of many Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) between Bihar and Jharkhand states, which were pending since the time of division of Bihar, were also discussed in detail and decisive steps were taken with mutual consent towards their resolution.
The Union Home and Cooperation Minister said that the eastern states should make more efforts towards full implementation of the three new criminal laws as soon as possible. He said that more work also needs to be done towards curbing narcotics in these states, for which district level NCORD meetings should be held regularly.
Shah also said that the four states of the eastern region should go beyond the traditional and structural framework in the field of skill training and prepare courses as per the need.
Amit Shah said that due to the unity of all the states and the bravery of the security forces, we have achieved unprecedented success against Naxalism and we will make the country free from Naxalism by 31 March 2026. He said that Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha have become free from Naxalism to a large extent.
The 27th meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council also discussed a wide range of issues of national importance. These include implementation of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSC) for speedy trial and speedy disposal of rape cases against women and children, brick-and-mortar banking facility within the designated radius of each village, implementation of Emergency Response Support System (ERSS-112) and various issues of common interest at the regional level including nutrition, education, health, power, urban planning and strengthening of cooperative systems.
Five Zonal Councils were established under Sections 15 to 22 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of the five Zonal Councils and the Chief Ministers/Lieutenant Governors/Administrators of the Member States/Union Territories are its members, of whom the Chief Minister of one State from the Member States is the Vice-Chairman by rotation every year. The Governor nominates two Ministers from each Member State as members of the Council. Each Zonal Council has also constituted a Standing Committee at the level of Chief Secretaries.
The issues proposed by the States are first placed for discussion before the Standing Committee of the respective Zonal Council. After consideration in the Standing Committee, the remaining issues are placed for consideration in the meeting of the Zonal Council. (ANI)
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