Rajnath holds meeting with four CMs of Central Zonal Council

Union Minister Rajnath Singh today chaired a meeting of 20th Central Zonal Council on security where he held discussions on infrastructure and Naxal menace with chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The meeting chaired by the Union Home Minister here was attended by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Uttrakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, a senior official said.
Giving details of the meeting, UP Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan said it was requested that density of roads should be increased specially in Chhattisgarh.
"The issue was raised by Chhattisgarh as length of roads there is very low. MP and UP associated themselves with the demand," he said.

He said that it was requested that length of national highways should be increased.
"In Uttar Pradesh, the length of national highway is 3.9 km per lakh population, whereas the national average is 5.6 km per lakh," he said.

The Chief Secretary said the discussions were also held to expedite the ongoing projects, besides on left wing extremism specially in Chhattisgarh and assistance needed to tackle the problem.
"Chhattisgarh CM said that funds were required to solve the problem. At present state governments are charged for deployment of Central forces. It was said that the expenditure should be borne by the centre," he said.

Ranjan said that UP presented a proposal of Rs 650 crore for modernisation of police in three years on which the Home Minister assured to provide assistance and asked to submit the plan.
He said that another issue was related to forest and environment and it was stated that it affected the pace of development therefore the Forest Act should be relaxed.
The chief secretary said that a discussion was also held on mines and minerals and it was stated that it should be kept out of the purview of the Act.