Pinarayi bats for cooperative federalism

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan called for concerted efforts to create a harmonious relationship between centre and states. He was addressing the 30th southern zonal council meeting of chief ministers and administrators of Union territories opened by home minister Amit Shah on Saturday.
“Cooperative federalism, for its successful and healthy functioning, requires continuous exchange of ideas among all stakeholders. There should be fruitful discussions on proposed legislations based on the entries in the concurrent list of the seventh schedule of our Constitution before they are enacted by the Parliament. There can be contestations, but through discussions and debates, consensus can emerge, narrowing down the areas of differences,” Vijayan said. He requested the Centre to take a proactive stand to enable states to undertake productive spending to galvanise the national economy.
Vijayan promised his counterparts that Kerala was eager to hear from them about steps to be taken to further improve the facilities offered to Sabarimala pilgrims from neighbouring states.
In his inaugural address, Shah said one of the main objectives of the zonal council meeting was to amicably settle disputes between the Centre and the states and issues among states through mutual agreement. He said the home ministry of home affairs was keen to crack down on the problem of narcotics. A policy for establishing forensic science labs was prepared and sent to the states and this will increase the conviction rate in narcotic cases, he said.
Meanwhile, the chief minister’s office refuted rumours that the CM had mooted a proposal to extend the service of the proposed SilverLine up to Mangaluru.
“No discussions were held on the SilverLine. What the CM said in the meeting was that further discussions on the development of Thalassery-Mysore, Nilambur-Nanjangud railway line can be taken up in the next zonal meeting as Karnataka and Kerala CMs are scheduled to hold a meeting over these projects in Bengaluru soon,” the CMO said. In the meeting, a total 26 issues were discussed, nine were resolved, said a statement issued by PIB.