Rajnath chairs zonal meet of CMs in Chandigarh to discuss SYL, drugs, security issues

Union home minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Chandigarh on Friday to chair the 28th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council, comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,

Union home minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Chandigarh on Friday to chair the 28th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council, comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chandigarh.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh arriving to attend the Northern Zonal Council meeting at the Taj Hotel in Chandigarh on Friday. (Anil Dayal/HT Photo)

The chief ministers in the zone, chief secretaries and senior officers from the state and central governments are attending the meeting.

Eighteen items, including the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal, drugs and security issues, are being taken up for discussion.

Read | Punjab should honour SYL pact, want amicable solution to inter-state disputes: Khattar

Five zonal councils – central, western, northern, southern and eastern – have been set up under the State Reorganisation Act, 1956. These councils are advisory bodies and may discuss any matter in which some or all of the states represented in the council have a common interest. They can advise the central and state governments on action to be taken.

A zonal council may discuss and make recommendations on any matter of common interest in economic and social planning, any matter concerning border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-state transport and any matter connected with, or arising out of, the reorganisation of states. The zonal councils aim at discussing and resolving substantive issues of development concerning regional interest and national programmes through its consultative mechanism.

The 27th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council was held at New Delhi on April 25, 2015.