Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday called upon southern States to explore joint solutions to issues related to the sharing of river water and also step up efforts to tackle the drug menace.
Chairing the 30th southern zonal council meeting of south Indian States and Union Territories at Kovalam here, Mr. Shah asked the States to hold regular meetings of the Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) for effectively tackling the problem of narcotics.
He said the Union Home Ministry had tried to crack down on narcotics with utmost vigilance. States should hold regular meetings of the NCORD (set up by the MHA in 2016 for effective drug law enforcement) and take them to the district level.
Mr. Shah urged Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to mutually resolve pending issues related to the State bifurcation.
He said there was immense potential for increasing trade and export of marine products in the region. Out of 3,461 fishing villages in the country, 1,763 were in the Southern Zonal Council area. Since 2015, ₹4,206 crore had been sanctioned for the Fisheries Infrastructure Development Fund scheme in the southern States.
QR-enabled PVC Aadhaar cards had been issued to over 12 lakh fishermen, which would not only facilitate their identification but would also strengthen the country’s maritime security.
The Home Minister said a policy for establishing forensic science labs had been prepared and sent to the States. This would increase the conviction rate, he said.
States should make efforts to provide banking facilities within five kilometers of every village and persuade cooperative banks to open branches. This would help in delivering the benefits of government schemes directly to beneficiaries through direct bank transfer, Mr. Shah said.
At the 30th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council, a total of 26 issues were discussed. Nine issues were resolved, 17 issues were reserved for further consideration, of which nine were related to reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Andhra Pradesh Finance and Planning Minister Bugganna Rajendranath, Telangana Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali, Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Lakshadweep Administrator Praful Patel, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Lieutenant Governor D.K. Joshi, and senior officials of the Union and State Governments and the Union Territories attended the conference.
