Rajnath Singh chairs 28th Southern Zonal Council Meet

Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday chaired the 28th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council in Bengaluru. The council was attended by Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister of Puducherry V. Narayanasamy, Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O. Panneerselvam, Finance Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y.R. Krishnudu, Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and senior officers from both the Central and State governments.

The meeting that is held after a gap of every two years focused on issues that have cropped up in the country and Andhra Pradesh, of late. The council took up issues related to Pulicat lake dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu fishermen over fishing rights, menace of red sander smuggling, the supply of Krishna River water to augment the drinking water supply to Chennai city, issues relating to fishing in coastal states in the Southern Zone, checking of Antibiotic residues in aquaculture shrimp export, scheme for modernisation of State Police Forces in the States of Southern Zone, issuance of 'No Objection Certificate' (NOC) for LPG godown site plan and issues pertaining to Biofuels programme.

As regards to peninsular tourism trains, Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Y.R. Krishnudu requested the Railway Ministry to introduce a special tourism train circuit covering important religious/ historical/ ecological places in the state.

However, Krishnudu highlighted that none of the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 and the assurances made by the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the floor of Rajya Sabha on February 20, 2014, have been implemented in entirety, even after nearly 4 years.

Out of the 27 issues discussed today, 22 were resolved in the meeting.