Patna. Bihar’s smart prepaid meter was appreciated in the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Zonal Council held in Patna on Saturday. A presentation regarding smart prepaid meters was made by the Government of Bihar as a good practice. The member states also selected this practice of Bihar for the Eastern Regional Council meeting. Now the implementation of this practice by other states will be considered in the next meeting of the council.
16 points taken from last meeting
In the meeting, 16 points were taken from the previous meeting while 29 other points were sponsored by the member state governments and various central ministries. Many controversial matters were resolved in the meeting and it was decided to remove them from the agenda. It was decided to keep the unresolved issues for discussion in the Eastern Zonal Council meeting to be held in the near future.
Amir Subhani presided over the meeting
The meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Zonal Council was held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Amir Subhani at Samvad-4, Deshratna Marg. 70 delegates from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal participated in this meeting which lasted for four hours. Good practices used in Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar were discussed in the meeting. In this a practice of Bihar was accepted.
These issues were also discussed
Many issues related to Bihar were discussed in the Standing Committee meeting. These include Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Fasttrack Special Court, Farakka Dam, Indrapuri Reservoir Project, construction of Daniyawan-Biharsharif-Barbigha-Sheikhpura broad gauge railway line, auction of mineral blocks, assets of Bihar Rajya Nirman Nigam Limited between Bihar and Jharkhand and Issues like apportionment of responsibilities, setting up of District Mineral Foundation, National Transit Pass System and implementation of Activity Mapping by States along with release of funds under Backward Regions Grant Fund were included.
In the meeting, on behalf of Revenue and Land Reforms Department, Additional Chief Secretary Brajesh Mehrotra, Additional Chief Secretary of Water Resources Department, Chaitanya Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary of Home Department, Dr. S. Siddharth, Additional Chief Secretary of Industries Department, Sandeep Poundrik presented the state government’s recommendations. On behalf of the State Government on specific points related to their respective departments and issues of general state interest.
70 delegates attended the meeting
Chief Secretary of Odisha Pradeep Kumar Jena, Secretary of Inter-State Council Secretariat Anuradha Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary of Finance Department of West Bengal Dr. Manoj Pant, Head of Home and Disaster Department of Jharkhand to attend the meeting of Standing Committee of Eastern Zonal Council Secretary Vandana Dadel, Additional Secretary Inter State Council Secretariat Rakesh Sarwal, Additional Secretary Inter State Council Secretariat Ashish Srivastava, Joint Secretary Dr. Vikant Pandey, Additional Secretary Ministry of Mines Sanjay Lohia, Joint Secretary Ministry of Home Affairs Parthasarathy, Joint Secretary Ministry of Panchayati Raj Mamta Apart from Verma, a total of 70 representatives from Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal, central ministries and Bihar participated.