No disaster relief for Himachal Pradesh, injustice to non-BJP states: CM Sukhu hits out at Centre

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Thursday accused the Centre of doing injustice with non-BJP states.

Speaking to the media, Sukhu highlighted discrimination in the Union Budget 2024-25 regarding the distribution of disaster relief funds, favouring BJP states like Uttarakhand and Assam over non-BJP states such as Himachal Pradesh.

"I believe that injustice is being done to non-BJP states somewhere and Himachal Pradesh has not been given financial assistance for disaster relief," he said.

"Assistance is being given to Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Assam for floods, but multilateral assistance is being given to Himachal Pradesh, which is injustice," he added.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said during her budget speech on Tuesday that Himachal Pradesh, which suffered major losses due to floods last year, would be assisted with multilateral development assistance.

After the announcement, Sukhu had said the Himachal government had requested the Centre to release Rs 9,042 crore as financial aid following a post-disaster assessment carried out by a central team.

It was expected that Himachal too, would be given direct assistance on the pattern of Assam, Sikkim and Uttarakhand, he had said.

Meanwhile, accusing former chief minister and Leader of Opposition in state assembly Jai Ram Thakur of "doing politics on everything", Sukhu on Thursday alleged he tries to block release of funds to the state when he goes to Delhi.

Echoing his thoughts, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, "Jai Ram Thakur goes to Delhi to work against the interest of the state."