Himachal government is avoiding responsibility amidst the disaster: Anurag Thakur
Himachal Pradesh: Former Union minister Anurag Thakur alleged that the state government was shirking its responsibilities at a time when the state was reeling under a natural calamity. Addressing a press conference, Thakur accused the government of misleading the public, spreading misinformation and politicising the disaster for its own benefit. He termed the government’s demand to declare the disaster a “national calamity” as a mere sham. He pointed out that the Congress-led UPA-II government in 2013 had removed the provision of declaring any natural calamity as a national calamity. “On what basis is the Congress now demanding what their own government had abolished more than a decade ago?” he asked. Highlighting discrepancies in the state government’s claims, Thakur said the government constantly accuses the Centre of not providing assistance, while official documents presented in the assembly admit that the Centre has provided thousands of crores of rupees as disaster relief in the last three years. He strongly criticised the government for announcing a relief amount of Rs 4,500 crore for disaster-affected citizens in 2023, out of which only Rs 256 crore has been disbursed so far.
Thakur said the central government has released Rs 3,058 crore for disaster-related assistance. He informed that Himachal Pradesh received Rs 1,280.40 crore from the Centre under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), while Rs 319.95 crore was allocated under the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF). He said a National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) of Rs 1,637.84 crore has been additionally sanctioned by the Centre and in the current financial year, the Centre has provided Rs 451.44 crore for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction and Rs 9.45 crore under the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF). Comparing the disaster assistance given during the Modi government with that of the Congress-led UPA government, Thakur said, “The Modi government has provided three times more funds under SDRF and more than five times more under NDRF than during the ten years of Congress rule. He said that from 2014 to 2025, Rs 3,190.39 crore was given under SDRF, while in the previous decade, this amount was Rs 947.41 crore. Similarly, during the tenure of the BJP government, the NDRF assistance increased from Rs 553.29 crore to Rs 2,684.88 crore.” Responding to the statement of Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari that flaws in preparing DPRs of roads were leading to destruction, Thakur said that there is always scope for improvement and DPR is a key component in the implementation of any project.
