Union Home and Co-operation Minister Amit Shah has said that strong states make strong nation and zonal councils play a vital role in ensuring cooperative federalism. The meeting was attended by chief ministers of Gujarat and Goa along with the ministers and officials from the western states and UTs. The council comprises Gujarat Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. The Home Minister chaired the 25th meeting of the Western Zonal Council at Diu on Saturday. Various issues related to boundary, security, infrastructure transport, industries pertaining to western states were discussed in the meeting, which was held after the gap of two years due to COVID pandemic. Highlighting the importance of Zonal Councils, the Home Minister referred to the Vision of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to leverage cooperative and competitive federalism to achieve all round growth of the country. He said, Zonal Councils provide the platform to foster such collaboration through a structured mechanism for dialogue and discussion. He also highlighted that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guidance, the country has been successfully dealing with Covid-19 pandemic along with ensuring extensive vaccination in the country which has been possible with the active support of the States. Shah said, in the last 8 years, the number of meetings of the Zonal Councils and its Standing Committees have increased by three times. He said, out of the 30 topics discussed in the 25th Western Regional Council, 27 have been resolved and only three are left for further discussion. He said, it shows the resolve and commitment of the government towards all-round development of the country in the spirit of cooperative federalism. Shah said, the meetings of the Zonal Council should be used by the States and UTs to share their best practices.
During the meeting, the Home Minister stressed the need for early investigation of rape and sexual offenses against women and children and stringent punishment in a time bound manner in these cases. Shah said that additional Director General of Police level officers, if possible women officers, should be entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the investigation of all such cases in the Police Headquarters of each State. While noting with satisfaction the substantial progress on the issue of QR Code enabled PVC Aadhar Cards to marine fishermen, the Home Minister urged the coastal States to make efforts to ensure 100 per cent fishermen, including migrant and seasonal fishermen, going to the high seas should have such Aadhaar cards.
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