Centre allotted Rs 862 crores: Thakur takes swipe at Himachal govt over funds claim

BILASPUR: Union Minister Anurag Thakur, on a visit to his native state, Himachal Pradesh, on Saturday, said the Central government allotted Rs 862 crores to the disaster relief fund for the hill State, which is reeling under the impact of cloud bursts and heavy rainfall.

Thakur also hit out at the ruling Congress government in the state for cribbing over funds crunch.

"Such disasters are nothing new for our state. However, since this government came to rule the State, it has been constantly complaining that they don't have enough funds for rescue and rehabilitation. They are saying that they also don't have enough money for development or to extend necessary assistance to the people. This despite the fact that the central government allotted Rs 862 crores to the state's disaster relief fund," the Union Minister told reporters in Bilaspur.

Earlier, on Friday, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to declare the floods and landslides triggered by the monsoon fury in Himachal Pradesh as a national disaster. Meanwhile, the ruling Congress in the State on Saturday said Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has set an example by donating Rs 51 lakh of his lifetime savings to the state disaster relief fund, adding that he is a "true philanthropist".

"Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu is truly a philanthropist. Setting an example before the entire country, he has donated his entire savings of Rs 51 lakh to the Disaster Relief Fund-2023 for Himachal Pradesh, which is still reeling under the impact of heavy rainfall and landslides. Sukhwinder Sukhu is, perhaps, the first Chief Minister in the country who, while in office, has donated his lifetime personal savings to the government to deal with this disaster," Saurav Chauhan, the spokesperson for the Himachal Congress, said. CM Sukhu on Friday donated his savings of around Rs 51 lakh towards the 'Aapda Rahat Kosh' to extend help to the disaster-affected people of the hill state.