VIJAYAWADA: The temple town of Tirupati will host the 29th Southern Zonal Council meeting on March 4. The meeting, to be chaired by Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, will be attended by chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pudduchery—the member states—and Lieutenant Governors of Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands, which are special invitees. Around 90-100 senior officials including chief secretaries, government advisors and heads of various departments will be attending the meeting, considered important for chalking out the future course of development of the southern Indian states.
Taking stock of the arrangements being made in Tirupati for the meeting, Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das directed Chittoor district collector, Tirupati Municipal Commissioner and Tirupati Urban Superintendent of Police to finalise the venue and accommodations for the visiting chief ministers, lieutenant governors and higher officials.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) was directed to make arrangements for providing darshan at the Tirumala temple to the visiting dignitaries. Officials were asked to make arrangements at the main meeting venue and attractive welcome banners at the main entrance. Further, they were directed to take steps for beautification of the venue and the temple town.
The Information and Public Relations department was directed to provide audio and video coverage of the entire meeting and submit the same to the Zonal Council Secretariat, so that the final proceedings can be prepared. He also wanted the information on the meeting along with photos and videos of the event to be provided to the media from time to time.
IT department officials were asked to make arrangements for high speed internet facilities along with WiFi and LAN facilities, a large number of laptops and large size LED screens. The Chief Secretary asked the police department to make elaboraw te security arrangements given the large number of VIPs visiting the temple town to attend the meeting. Protocol department officials were instructed to ensure that there are no lapses in the arrangements. Health officials will arrange Covid testing kits, masks and sanitisers.
“Every department should have a liaison officer to coordinate with Chittoor district officials and state-level senior officials,” he said. Secretary (State Reorganisation Commission) L Premchandra Reddy, additional DGP Ravi Shankar Ayannar, principal secretary (Transport) MT Krishna Babu, home secretary Kumar Viswajeet, Assembly secretary Balakrishnamacharyulu, officials of IT, protocol, I&PR attended the meeting. Chittoor district collector, Tirupati Municipal Commissioner and Tirupati urban SP attended the meeting through video conference.
Union Home Minister to chair meeting
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the meeting in Tirupati. The meet is considered important for chalking out the future course of development of the southern Indian states