HP: Budget promises aid for flood recovery

Shimla: Almost a year after Himachal Pradesh suffered major losses as a result of unprecedented flash floods, landslides, and relentless rains, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sought to reach out to the Congress-ruled state, promising financial assistance.

During her Budget speech in Parliament on Tuesday, Nirmala Sitharaman said Himachal Pradesh, which suffered heavily due to floods last year, would be provided aid through multilateral development assistance. She also promised similar help to Uttarakhand, a neighboring BJP-ruled state that has also faced natural calamities.

In Himachal Pradesh, the two months of July and August 2023 left a trail of deaths and destruction in the hill state after heavy rains triggered floods and landslides, especially in Kullu-Manali, leaving 550 people dead. Shimla, the erstwhile summer capital of British India, was wrecked by massive damages, building collapses, landslides, and the uprooting of the deodars. The town, already vulnerable to disasters, turned into an epicenter of sinking and land subsidence, looking like a high-scale tragedy.

Since then, Chief Minister Sukhu has been asking the Centre to provide special assistance of Rs 9,024 crore under the post-disaster assessment funding, as assessed by a central team after the disasters.

The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh had been asking the Centre to declare the natural calamities in the state as a ‘national calamity’, but the demand was never accepted despite the state Assembly also passing a resolution in this regard.

During the Lok Sabha elections, the Chief Minister had made it a big issue against the Centre for not helping the state, as he had to share Rs 4,500 crore out of the state Budget to provide relief and undertake rehabilitation measures.