Amit Shah Chairs the 28th Western Zonal Council Meeting at Panaji, Goa
Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the 28th Western Zonal Council meeting at Panaji, Goa, on 7 September 2026, organised through the Inter-State Council Secretariat. The Western Zonal Council covers Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, with the Goa Chief Minister serving as Vice-Chairman. The agenda covered cooperative federalism, inter-state coordination, crimes against women, fast-track special courts and village-level banking. Zonal Councils are statutory advisory bodies created under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956; India has five of them — Northern, Central, Eastern, Western and Southern — and the Union Home Minister chairs each one.
The North Eastern Council, created by the North Eastern Council Act, 1971, is a separate body and not one of the five zonal councils | The Inter-State Council is a constitutional body established under Article 263 | Goa became India's 25th state on 30 May 1987, with Panaji as its capital