Srinagar: Meeting outside Delhi for the first time, the Inter-State Council (ISC) will have a two-day meeting in Srinagar next month with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee declaring it open, official sources said on July 4.

The conference, to be held on August 26-27, would be attended by the Chief Ministers of all the states and Lt Governors of the Union Territories, besides several Union Ministers and senior officials, the sources said.

Union Secretary, Inter-State Council, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ashok Kumar Rastogi, who is in Srinagar to finalise arrangements for holding the eighth meeting of the Council, apprised Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma of the decision to have the meeting in Srinagar, sources said.

Rastogi told Sharma the main agenda of the Council would be deliberations on the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission and to evolve a strategy for strengthening Panchayati Raj institutions.

Sharma told Rastogi that there was remarkable improvement in the law and order situation in the state and a large number of tourists have started visiting the valley.

PTI