Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will preside over the meeting to be attended by Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana and Puducherry.
The 26th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council, a forum for the Centre and the states to cooperate and exchange ideas and experiences and find ways to check destructive forces, will be held in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh tomorrow.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will preside over the meeting to be attended by Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana and Puducherry.
Issues of Inter-State and Centre-State cooperation and coordination have been flagged for this meeting, including coastal security, peninsular region industrial corridor, introduction of peninsular tourism trains, finalisation of inter-state reciprocal transport agreement, curbing the use of unacceptable levels of pesticides in fruits and vegetables, and maintaining uniform standards of nursing courses, etc.
Some other substantial issues of Centre-State and Inter-State matters are also likely to be raised by member states in the Council.
Common interest pertaining to infrastructures, health, security, social welfare, linguistic minorities, border disputes etc., may be discussed and action taken.
Issues related to regional development of infrastructure for giving a boost to urban housing sector, construction of bridges, issuance of biometric identity cards and card-readers to fishermen are likely to be discussed at tomorrow's meeting.
The states have been divided into five zones and each zone has its council comprising the chief minister, two ministers and the chief secretary of each state.
The zonal councils are headed by the Union Home Minister and each zone nominates one chief minister as its vice-chairman on rotation basis.
The zonal councils provide a forum where irritants between the Centre and states and amongst the states themselves can be resolved through free and frank discussion and consultations.
Being advisory bodies, there is full scope for free and frank exchange of views at these meetings.
Though there are a large number of other fora like the National Development Council, Inter State Council, Governor's and Chief Minister's Conferences and other periodic high-level conferences held under the auspices of the Union government, the zonal councils are different, both in content and character.
They are regional fora of cooperative endeavour for states linked with each other economically, politically and culturally.