Chennai:After the Covid pandemic has subsided, the Centre has convened a meeting of the South Zone Council (SZC) meeting on Sunday and the venue is Tirupati. As chairman of the council, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is arriving down south, providing the event and the institution the much-needed impetus. Interestingly, this is the first visit of Shah to the South in months.
However, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will not be in attendance at the meeting as he is busy with the relief and restoration works in the aftermath of the rain and floods which have wreaked havoc across the state. On Sunday, Stalin is scheduled to visit his assembly constituency, Kolathur, where many localities are still reeling under knee deep water. Though rains have stopped, many parts of Chennai, especially its northern suburbs are still waterlogged. The state would be represented by a minister or officials. For, TN Chief Ministers rarely attended such events in the national capital, preferring to depute a cabinet colleague instead. It has been the case with former Chief Ministers M Karunanidhi, MG Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa.
The last meeting was held at Bengaluru in 2018 and this one is the 29th for SZC, which also comprises the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar as well as the Administrator of Lakshadweep apart from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Currently, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is the Vice-Chairman and the host.
With each state approaching the Supreme Court for arbitration of intractable inter-state river disputes, the SZC takes stock of their current status while making progress on issues like crime against women and their safety, marine fishing, agriculture among others. Significantly, the Bengaluru meet discussed the design and funding of the ambitious Krishna-Godavari-Cauvery linking project. It was also decided that these would be taken up after the preparation of the Detailed Project Report by the Jal Shakti Ministry.
All the peninsular states have disputes with their neighbours and the forum was envisioned by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to foster collaboration and dialogue to iron out differences. It was established 1957, a year after the Linguistic Reorganisation of States, to cement national integration through cooperation of the Centre and the States and douse regionalism. There are four other Councils viz., Northern, Western, Central and Eastern. All the councils are advisory bodies, providing space for frank exchange of views. However, over the period, they have been relegated to the backyard and Shah, who is heading the newly created Ministry of Cooperation, appears to lift the institution from oblivion.
