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Bengal

5 states stare at outcome of 24th Eastern Zonal Council meet today

Bhubaneswar: The 24th Eastern Zonal Council (EZC) meeting at Bhubaneswar on Friday is going to turn out to be the most crucial one, as this is the first time when Union Home minister Amit Shah and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be sharing the dais after the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) debacle and that too when violence has gripped Delhi over the same issue.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang will also be present in the meeting, in which as many as 50 issues including road and rail connectivity, inter-state security, coal royalty revision, telecommunication and certain education related issues will come up for discussion.

Two ministers from each state would be the nodal representatives to later follow up the issues, which will be taken up as a resolution in Friday's meeting. It will take place at the Lok Seva Bhawan in the state secretariat.

The security in and around the venue has been tightened up. Police personnel have been deployed at strategic points and risking operations are being carried out to ensure that no untoward incident takes place during the meeting. Rajeeva Sinha, Chief Secretary of Bengal and the state's Director General of Police Virendra, will also be present in the meeting.

Banerjee reached Bhubaneswar on Thursday evening directly from Puri, where she offered puja at Lord Jagannath's Temple on Wednesday, praying for peace in respect to unabated violence in Delhi.

Four out of the five states - Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand - have coal-bearing regions. So, according to the sources, the issue related to delay in revision of coal royalty will come up as one of the crucial issues in Friday's meeting.

Another crucial issue that would come up in the meeting is "delay" in clearing dues of the state government and at the same time, reduction in the Centre's share for various projects in the state would come up in the meeting as well.

The issues related to the inter-state security matters that also include troubles in the Maoist-infested areas, mainly in Jharkhand and Odisha, would also be discussed.

According to political analysts, the meeting is quite crucial as this is the first meeting of EZC after the CAA debacle and the Bengal Chief Minister has been constantly opposing the Centre's move in this regard.

The meeting is expected to further strengthen the inter-state relations as many issues are expected to get resolved during discussions in Friday's meeting.

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