Shimla: On the first day of the state Assembly’s Budget session, Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on Monday highlighted climate change, drugs issues and fiscal constraints as merging challenges facing the government.
Addressing the House, the Governor said the Himalayan region is highly vulnerable to climate change but added that the state government was taking proactive measures to strengthen environmental resilience and mitigate future disasters.
In his one and a half hour-long speech in Hindi, Shukla also informed the members of the House that the state has been selected under a bilateral project of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in collaboration with Climate Adaptation and Finance in Rural India. “Between 2023 and 2026, approximately Rs 91 crore is being invested to develop adaptive capacity for 5,000 women farmers in drought-prone and climate-sensitive areas of the state,” he added.
Shukla admitted that the government was facing fiscal challenges, but despite that, the pace of the development has not been allowed to be impacted. The government has made consistent efforts in the financial management and has collected Rs 8,338 crore revenue till December 2024, which is 11.79 percent higher than the same period last year. The government is working to enhance the efficiency of power transmission and distribution networks while exploring solar energy potential to reduce dependency on conventional power sources, he said.
Referring to GST collections, Shukla said the discontinuation of GST compensation in 2022 and the steady decline of the Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) has caused financial constraints.
The Chief Minister Sukh-Aashray Yojana continues to provide care and education for destitute children. Special relief packages have been offered to disaster-affected families, particularly those impacted by monsoon calamities and fires.
He claimed that the state government has fulfilled six out of the 10 guarantees made during the Assembly elections.