On Saturday in Kolkata, the Eastern Zonal Council will meet under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to examine connectivity, smuggling along the India-Bangladesh border, and security along interstate borders. Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal make up the Eastern Zonal Council. Chief ministers, ministers, chief secretaries, principal secretaries, senior officials from the member states, as well as senior officials from the central government, will attend.
According to another official, the Modi administration frequently holds meetings of the zonal councils as part of its plan to build and advance the nation's cooperative and competitive federalism. The regional councils serve as a platform for settling disagreements and irritations between the Center and the states as well as amongst several states in the zone. The states and Union Territories discuss their best practices during the zonal council sessions.
The councils also talk on a wide range of topics, including boundary disputes, security, infrastructure-related issues like road transport, businesses, water, and power, issues relating to the environment and forests, as well as housing, education, food, security, tourism, and transportation.
Five zonal councils were established across the nation in 1957 in accordance with Section 15-22 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Each of these five zonal councils is headed by the Union's minister of housing, with the vice-chairman being the chief minister of the host state, who would be chosen annually by rotation.
