Northern Zonal Council to meet today

New Delhi: A meeting of the Northern Zonal Council will be held here on Saturday to discuss issues of common interests in the the areas of economic and social planning and border dispute among the northern states.

The Zonal Council meeting, to be chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, will discuss and make recommendations with regard to matters of common interest in the field of economic and social planning, linguistic minorities,border disputes among member states, inter-state transport and others.

The Northern Zonal Council comprises of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh.

The meeting will be attended by chief ministers, ministers, chief secretaries, principal secretaries and senior officers of the member states and senior officers of central government, a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

As per established procedure and practise, the Zonal Council meeting is preceded by a Standing Committee meet of the Council in which the agenda items to be placed before the Council are scrutinised and prioritised.

Prior to the convening of the meeting of the Northern Zonal Council, its Standing Committee met twice - in May 2013 at Jaipur and in November last year at New Delhi.

The issues flagged by the Standing Committee for discussion in the Northern Zonal Council meeting include procurement of agriculture produce on Minimum Support Price, interlinking of rivers, eco-sensitive zone, air pollution in Delhi and setting up homes for the intellectually impaired in all Northern States among others.