The 20th meeting of Eastern Zonal Council, comprising of the States of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand, was held today at Kolkata. Shri Sushilkumar Shinde, Union Home Minister chaired the meeting which was hosted by the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Governor of Jharkhand, Ministers, Chief Secretaries and senior officers from the Member States and various Ministries and Departments of the Government of India attended the meeting. Welcoming the participants Ms. Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister highlighted the strategic location of the States of the Eastern region and emphasised the need for enhanced cooperation and coordination among the member States on various issues of common importance. The Union Home Minister explained the recent initiatives taken for strengthening the mechanism for Centre-State and Inter State cooperation. He emphasised the need for more frequent meetings of the Council to resolve various issues among the States of the region. The Governor of Jharkhand and Ministers from the States of Odisha and Bihar raised various issues, such as, sharing of information and intelligence, use of national resources like, water, minerals etc, common border check posts, and suggested various mechanisms for strengthening cooperation among the States of the region. The meeting discussed various important issues, such as, internal security, problems of naxalism, communal harmony, safety on the national highways, use and distribution of coal and other natural resources, allotment of land for CRPF to establish battalion camping sites, matters related to police administration, border area development programme, strengthening of vigilance establishment in the states to deal with corruption, issues relating to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, etc.Participating States raised a number of fresh issues for discussion. It was decided that the Standing Committee of Chief Secretaries under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary, West Bengal shall meet to finalise the agenda for the next meeting of the Council later this year in Odisha.