Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah will chair the 26th meeting of the Western Zonal Council on Monday at Gandhinagar.

The Western Zonal Council comprises the states of Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.

The meeting is being organized by the Inter State Council Secretariat under the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat.

The 26th meeting of the Western Zonal Council will be attended by the Chief Ministers of the member states and the Administrator of the Union Territories, along with two senior ministers from each state.

The Chief Secretaries, Advisors and other senior officers of the State Governments and Union Territories and Union Home Secretary, Secretary Inter State Council and other senior officers of the Central Government will also participate in the meeting.

Five Zonal Councils were established in the year 1957 under Section 15-22 of the States Reorganization Act, 1956. The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of these five Zonal Councils, while the Chief Ministers of the States included in the respective Zonal Council and the Administrator/Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territories are its members.

Two more ministers from each state are nominated by the Governor as members of the council. Each Zonal Council has also constituted a Standing Committee at the level of Chief Secretaries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed the need to leverage cooperative and competitive federalism for the all-round development of the country. In the spirit that strong States make strong nations, Zonal Councils provide a platform to enhance cooperation through a systematic mechanism for regular dialogue and discussion on issues affecting two or more states or the Center and the States.

Mr Amit Shah has also emphasised the cooperative federalism approach to empower states and promote better understanding on the policy framework between the Centre and the States.

He has advocated using Zonal Councils to resolve disputes and promote cooperative federalism. Under the Chairmanship of the Union Home Minister, meetings of all five Zonal Councils were organized last year. This year, all meetings of the respective standing committees have been held prior to the meetings of the Zonal Councils.

The Zonal Councils hold discussions on a wide range of issues including infrastructure, mining, water supply, environment and forests and state-restructuring, as well as direct benefit transfer (DBT), wider expansion of telecommunications/internet and issues of general regional interests.