Shah chairs 26th Western Zonal Council meeting in Gandhinagar

New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS) Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday chaired the 26th meeting of the Western Zonal Council in Gujarat capital Gandhinagar. 

During the meeting, Amit Shah, inaugurated an e-resource web portal -- iscs-eresource.gov.in -- of Inter State Council Secretariat of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The portal will facilitate functioning of Zonal Councils, a government spokesperson said. 

During the meeting, Amit Shah said: "After the recent success of the country's Chandrayaan mission, the whole world is praising the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a new direction to India's space sector, and has made a time-bound programme and framework to take India to the forefront of the world in the field of space by year 2030." 

The meeting was attended by the chief ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra and others, Chief Secretaries from the states in the Western Zone, Union Home Secretary, Secretary, Inter-State Council Secretariat and other senior officers from the States and Central Ministries and Departments. 

In the 26th Western Zonal Council meeting, a total of 17 issues, out of which nine issues were resolved and remaining issues, including issues of national interest, were kept for monitoring after in-depth discussion. 

"Some crucial issues concerning the member states in particular and the country as a whole were 'transfer of land related issues, Issues related to water supply, operationalisation of Auctioned Mines, cash deposit facility at Common Service Centre, Coverage of villages by Bank Branches/Postal Banking facilities, Speedy investigation of cases of sexual offence/rape against women and children, Implementation of the Scheme of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) for expeditious disposal of rape and POCSO Act cases, utilisation of Bharat Net infrastructure by states for providing broadband connectivity to the households in villages, Adoption of Telecom RoW Rules by States for facilitating roll out of 5G, Implementation of Motor Vehicles (Registration and Functions of Ve hicle Scrapping Facility Amendment), Strengthening of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), and other matters were discussed," a spokesperson said. 

Shah asked Zonal Council member states to work sensitively on three issues of national importance – POSHAN Abhiyaan, reducing the dropout rate of school children and taking benefits of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana to every poor. 

Shah said that co-operatives are the only way to connect 60 crore people of the country with the economy so that they can contribute in the progress of the country. 

"By creating 2 lakh new Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and making existing PACS viable, the country's cooperative sector will witness a huge change," an official said. 

Amit Shah said that between 2014 and 2023, a total of 23 meetings of the Zonal Councils and 29 meetings of its Standing Committees were held, whereas from 2004 to 2014, there were 11 meetings of the Zonal Council and 14 meetings of the Standing Committees. 

Shah said that the Western Zone is a crucial region of the country and with a contribution of 25 per cent to the country's GDP, this region is the hub of finance, IT, diamond, petroleum, automobile and defence. 

He said that the member states of the Western Zonal Council share long coastlines where there are highly sensitive institutions and industries and there is a need for sustained efforts towards ensuring tight security.