Bhubaneswar: The 15th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Zonal Council commenced today at the Convention Centre of Lokseva Bhawan in Bhubaneswar.
The high-level meeting was chaired by Odisha Chief Secretary Shrimati Anu Garg and saw the participation of senior bureaucrats, including Chief Secretaries, Home Secretaries, and Directors General of Police from member states, along with top officials from the Central Government.
Additional Chief Secretary Home, Shri Hemant Sharma, ACS Energy, E&IT Shri Vishal Kumar Dev, Principal Secretary Works, Shri Sanjay Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary Finance, Shri Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra, Special Secretary Home, Shri Radha Kishan Sharma and other senior officers of the Odisha Government participated in the discussion.
The primary objective of the session was to facilitate detailed deliberations on pressing inter-state and security issues concerning the eastern region, which comprises Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. A key focus of the agenda included reviewing the progress of decisions made in previous council meetings and finalizing the core agenda for the upcoming main Eastern Zonal Council meeting.
A major portion of the discussion centered on security and law enforcement coordination, particularly the complete eradication of Maoist activities along the shared border between Odisha and Jharkhand. Officials also reviewed strategies to curb narcotics trafficking across state lines, emphasizing the regular usage and integration of the National Narcotics Coordination Portal.
In addition to security, the committee scrutinized infrastructural and developmental challenges. The representatives deliberated on a strategic blueprint to enhance communication and financial inclusion in remote and underserved areas of the eastern states. This includes an initiative to establish functional banking outlets or post offices within a five-kilometer radius of every village. Discussions also covered ongoing inter-state border disputes and resource-sharing bottlenecks, aiming to resolve mutual concerns through cooperative federalism before escalating them to the ministerial level