The 24th Eastern Zonal Council meeting under the chairmanship of Home Minister Amit Shah is underway at the Lokseva Bhavan in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are participating in the meeting while Finance Minister of Jharkhand Rameswar Oram is attending in the place of Chief Minister Hemanta Soren.

The meeting has discussed several issues including inter-state water issues, power transmission lines, royalty on and operationalization of coals mines, land and forest clearance of rail projects, investigation of heinous offences, cattle smuggling across country’s borders, lack of telecom and banking infrastructure in remote areas, petroleum projects, sharing pattern on centrally collected revenues etc.

During the meeting, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is the Vice Chairman and host of the Eastern Zonal Council Meeting urged the Union Home Minister to give Focus-State Status to Odisha as it has been facing numerous natural disasters. Patnaik also appealed for increasing banking, tele-density and coal royalty during the meeting.

The Chief Ministers of are accompanied by two Cabinet Ministers from each state as members of the council. The meeting will be followed by the Home Minister’s address in a rally at the Janata Maidan in Bhubaneswar this afternoon in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act.