Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who is representing the Union Territory at the 30th Southern Zonal Council meeting scheduled in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, has emphasised the value of participating in the forum.
The council meeting, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, aims at serving as a platform to address and resolve Centre-State issues or disputes between States. It will also set the stage for discussions on a broad spectrum of issues spanning boundary disputes, security, infrastructure, transport, industries, water, forests and environment, food security, and tourism.
“The idea is to collaborate and resolve outstanding issues. The platform also offers scope to bring up an unresolved issue either during the event or sometimes even on its sidelines”, the Lt. Governor told The Hindu.
However, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, who had participated in the 29th council meeting at Tirupati in November last year when Chief Ministers of neighbouring States Pinarayi Vijayan and M.K. Stalin were absentees, will not be attending the conference in the Kerala capital, sources said.
To emphasise the value of participation in the southern zonal council meet, Ms. Soundararajan pointed to Puducherry’s privilege of having its top decision-driving triad of the Lt. Governor and the Chief Minister and the presence of the Chief Secretary at these meetings (Governors of States are not invitees to the event),
“Though the agenda is confined to discussing and resolving inter-State issues, as administrators we also use the forum to list out various priorities, whether it is seeking Central funds, infrastructure or tourism projects... which have met with a measure of success. Besides, the presence of top Home Ministry officials at the conference is also helpful in flagging a demand or concern for a speedy response,” Ms. Soundararajan said.
As a preparatory exercise, the Lt. Governor had convened a meeting at the Raj Nivas recently with Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma and officials from various departments.
According to the Lt. Governor, the southern zonal council meeting also afforded an opportunity to revisit or review the status of previously agreed-upon proposals such as, for instance, the progress relating to the two-phase acquisition of about 375 acres of land in Tamil Nadu for airport expansion in Puducherry, restating the demand for due share of Cauvery water or expanding multi-modal connectivity between Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.
