Amit Shah likely to chair meeting of Eastern Zonal Security Council in city

KOLKATA: Union Home minister Amit Shah is likely to visit Kolkata to chair the meeting of Eastern Zonal Security Council in November. According to sources, the meeting will be held at Nabanna Sabhaghar. Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee along with CMs of Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Sikkim are likely to attend the meeting.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, five Zonal Councils were set up vide Part III of the States Re-organisation Act, 1956. The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these five Zonal Councils and Chief Minister of the host state—which is chosen by rotation every year—is the Vice-Chairman. The Council takes up issues involving Centre and States, and among member-states falling in the Zone and thus provide a forum for resolving disputes and irritants between them. The Eastern Zonal Council comprises the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Sikkim and West Bengal.

Earlier in 2018, Rajnath Singh—who was then the Union Home minister—had presided over the 23rd meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council in Kolkata. After the meeting—as per reports—he had held another meeting with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Meanwhile, sources claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee might raise issues concerning cattle smuggling before Shah. Banerjee had claimed in the past that often Bengal is used as the transit point to smuggle cattle through Indo-Bangla border. It has also been alleged that smuggling of cattle can't be facilitated without the involvement of BSF.