PANAJI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday called on Goa and the other States of the Western Zonal Council to make coastal security and the fight against narcotics a priority, warning that the region must play a leading role in tackling drugs and implementing the new criminal laws.
Chairing the 28th meeting of the Western Zonal Council on his second day in Goa, Shah said the Centre would take up coastal security “very seriously” over the next two years while urging Chief Ministers to make it part of their agenda.
“CMs should make coastal security and narcotics a part of their agenda. Over the next two years, the Ministry of Home Affairs will move forward very seriously on coastal security,” Shah said.
The emphasis carried particular significance for Goa, which has a long coastline and faced growing concerns over alleged drug trafficking and the use of the coastal route for illegal activities. The union minister further said the western region should take the lead in implementing the three new criminal laws and in making the country’s fight against drugs a success.
Shah described the western region -- comprising Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu -- as the “West Engine” of India’s economic growth, accounting for a dominant share in wealth and finance, exports and ports, start-ups and semiconductors, tourism and the blue economy. He singled out Goa’s economic contribution despite its relatively small geographical size. “Goa contributes much more to economic growth than its geographical size would suggest due to advanced tourism, high per capita income and mines,” Shah said.
He added that more than one crore tourists visit Goa, including around five lakh foreign tourists, with tourism contributing 16 percent to the State’s GSDP.
Among the issues discussed were fast-track courts for rape cases against women and children, ERSS-112, food safety, Ayushman Bharat, railway projects, environmental clearances, electricity supply, malnutrition, school dropouts, cybercrime and digital infrastructure.
Shah also called for all urban cooperative banks in the States to be connected with the Centre’s financial crime-fighting systems and urged States to strengthen their response to cybercrime.
Goa CM Pramod Sawant, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Praful Patel, besides senior officials of the Centre and the member States and UTs, attended the meeting that also reviewed the functioning of the Zonal Councils, with Shah highlighting a sharp increase in their meetings since 2014.
