Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik Likely To Attend EZC Meeting In Kolkata

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is likely to attend the Eastern Zonal Council (EZC) meeting scheduled to be held in Kolkata on November 5.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will preside over the EZC meeting to be held at the West Bengal secretariat.

According to sources, Naveen is likely to leave for Kolkata on November 4 to attend the meeting the next day.

Issues related to the completion of the eastern freight corridor, international borders with Bengal and Sikkim, rising cases of smuggling across the border are likely to be discussed at the EZC meeting. The Chief Ministers of Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and Sikkim will be present.

It may be noted that Naveen has skipped the two-day ‘Chintan Shivir’ conclave of the Union Home Ministry on internal security held at Surajkund in Haryana on Thursday and Friday. Odisha’s Minister of State for Home, T K Behera attended the meeting.

Four other chief ministers of non-BJP state governments – Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, Hemant Soren and M K Stalin too sent representatives to the two-day Chintan Shivir, which was addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video conference on Friday. It was addressed by Amit Shah on the opening day on Thursday.

Development of an ecosystem for cyber crime management, increase in usage of IT in criminal justice system, women’s safety, coastal security and other internal security issues were discussed at the two-day ‘Chintan Shivir’.