Himachal news wrap 2023: Tough year for Sukhu as monsoon fury compounds state's financial crunch

Shimla: It was the worst monsoon in living memory for most people in Himachal Pradesh, unleashing its fury just when the new Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government was settling in.

Rains lashed the state for several days during July-August. In Shimla district alone, there were three major landslides that killed nearly 30 people.

Altogether, 509 people died and 38 went missing in the state during the 2023 monsoon. Over 15,000 became homeless and the state government pegged the loss to public and private property at Rs 12,000 crore.

Already facing a financial crunch, the new Congress government failed to convince the Centre to declare this a national calamity and sanction the amount as a special relief package. From its own resources, it announced a package of Rs 4,500 crore for disaster-affected people.

Over the year, the government and the opposition BJP bickered over who was responsible for Himachal's money problems. The Sukhu government presented a “white paper”, arguing that it inherited a debt burden of Rs 76,000 crore from the previous BJP government.

The new dispensation shut down over 1,000 facilities, including schools and small health centres, set up by the previous government at the fag-end of its term. It said the BJP government hadn’t set aside funds for these units.

The government faced flak for imposing a water cess on public undertakings that have set up hydel projects in Himachal Pradesh, hoping that this will draw in an extra Rs 1,800 crore every year.

The Union government dubbed the cess illegal and asked the central hydropower undertakings not to pay up, and Punjab and Haryana slammed the decision.

The government implemented several of the Congress poll guarantees -- restoring the Old Pension Scheme for government employees, introducing English medium in state schools and launching the first phase of the Rs 680-crore Rajiv Gandhi Self-Employment Start-up Scheme.

But key promises remain unfulfilled. Like a Rs 1,500 monthly allowance for all women, 300 units of free electricity for all households every billing cycle and a guarantee to buy milk from farmers at Rs 80-100 per litre.

Early in the year, the government dissolved the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission, acting on complaints of exam papers being leaked. Months later, it was replaced by a new Himachal Pradesh Rajya Chayan Aayog to recruit government employees.

A Rs 2,500 cryptocurrency scam unfolded with a special investigation team (SIT) arresting at least 19 people. Fraudsters offered a Ponzi scheme to the gullible, promising high returns to their investments.

The government pushed initiatives which, it said, will make Himachal a green state by 2026. It has decided to replace its bus fleet with electric buses, introduce e-taxis and provide 50 per cent percent subsidy for solar power projects.

Sukhu expanded his ministry twice during the year, in January and again in December, adding seven ministers. One berth is still vacant.

He also appointed six chief parliamentary secretaries, a move the opposition has challenged in high court. State governments often make such appointments to accommodate MLAs who couldn't be inducted in the cabinet.

The CM’s decision to commemorate his government’s first year in office created bad blood with Pratibha Singh, the president of the party’s state unit whose claim to the CM’s job was ignored by the top Congress leadership last year.

Singh told reporters that Sukhu hadn’t kept her in the loop before announcing a party rally in Dharamshala. Party workers who laboured for a Congress victory last year should be rewarded, she said.

The government listened to hoteliers who claimed they were being treated unfairly compared to smaller units like homestays. In the winter session of the assembly, it brought a bill to make registration of all tourism units mandatory.

And as the year draws to an end, the tourism industry appears to have bounced back after the monsoon setback. Over the Christmas weekend, destinations like Manali saw 90 per cent hotel occupancy. More than 28,000 vehicles crossed Rohtang’s Atal Tunnel on Sunday alone.