New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS): Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will chair the 26th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council to be held in Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada city on Saturday.

The Southern Zonal Council comprises Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana and Puducherry. 

Chief Ministers of all the states and senior officers from Central and State Governments are expected to participate in the meeting.

The Zonal Councils, created under the State Reorganization Act, 1956, are advisory bodies that discuss and advise the Central and State Governments on matters of common interest pertaining to a gamut of subjects, viz., infrastructures, health, security, social welfare, linguistic minorities, border disputes, etc., on the action to be taken in such matter.

The meeting of each Zonal Council is required to be held once a year to iron out any kind of differences between the governments on issues of development concerning regional interest and national programmes.

Issues such as coastal security, peninsular region industrial corridor, introduction of peninsular tourism trains, finalisation of inter-state reciprocal transport agreement, curbing the use of unacceptable levels of pesticides in fruits and vegetables, maintaining uniform standards of nursing courses, etc.have been flagged for this meeting. 

Some other substantial issues of Centre-State and inter-state matters are also likely to be raised by member states in the Council.