Himachal’s long wait for promised disaster relief

It is ironic that little clarity exists on the Rs 1,500-crore relief package that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced during a visit to the state on September 9, 2025, in the wake of the rain disaster. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has repeatedly said that Himachal had suffered losses to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees in 2023 and 2025, while the assistance from the Central Government was so far tantamount to mere “peanuts”.

The monsoon last year had battered Himachal Pradesh with unprecedented intensity, leaving 386 persons dead and thousands injured and causing financial losses to the tune of around Rs 4,465 crore as cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides destroyed roads, bridges, homes and infrastructure. More than 1,500 houses were fully damaged and thousands were partially wrecked while villages were cut off and families were shifted to makeshift shelters. The state government had immediately sought an urgent aid from the Central Government, including the Rs 1,500-crore relief package announced by the Prime Minister, but much of the support remains slow or pending, forcing families to borrow, sell land or mortgage orchards just to rebuild basic shelter and restore livelihoods. The psychological impact just like the financial cost has been as severe, leaving citizens to confront the fury of nature and the frustration of delayed assistance.

State yet to receive disaster aid

The Central Government has repeatedly given assurances to the state government but a significant amount of the disaster relief remain unsettled. After the 2023 rain calamity, New Delhi had approved a recovery plan but the bulk of this approved assistance was still pending with the Union Finance and Home ministries due to procedural conditions and utilisation requirements. Besides, the Prime Minister had announced a separate flood relief package but the state government stated that it had not received these funds till now. Himachal’s demand for a full Rs 9,000-crore rehabilitation support covering broader reconstruction and compensation needs, also remains unresolved, intensifying the fiscal strain on the state exchequer

Rs 62,685 cr provided to Himachal, claims Centre

Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, however, said in the Rajya Sabha on December 17, 2025, that the Central Government had released Rs 62,685 crore to Himachal Pradesh between 2022-23 and 2024-25 for development, welfare schemes and infrastructure. Of this amount, Rs 19,913 crore was provided in 2022-23, Rs 20,960 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 21,810 crore in 2024-25 under tax devolution, finance commission grants, special assistance, externally-aided projects and capital expenditure support. State BJP leaders have been furious over the Chief Minter’s claims that the Central Government had given a step-motherly treatment to Himachal Pradesh in providing financial assistance for rehabilitation works after two natural disasters.

Before the wounds of the 2023 rain disaster could heal, another disaster struck the state in 2025. Climate change has altered rainfall patterns, intensified cloudbursts and destabilised hill slopes already weakened by reckless construction work.

Governance vs compassion

The Central Government did process files and approve relief assistance but the deeper question persists: Why is disaster relief still chained to slow procedures when livelihoods are collapsing? The 75 per cent utilisation rule may make sense on paper but on the ground, it punishes states that need immediate liquidity. Himachal borrowed, diverted and stretched resources and waited for reimbursement long after the emergency.

When the assistance looks episodic and delayed, it inevitably creates the perception that relief is influenced by politics rather than humanitarian urgency, eroding federal trust.

The way forward

Himachal needs structural responses not sympathy. Relief must be time-bound and front-loaded in high-risk states, with conditions later. Construction norms should be rewritten with geology panels and carrying-capacity audits. Riverbeds must be protected; they are safety valves, not real estate. Climate-resilient infrastructure, early warning systems and evacuation shelters must become the standard. Tourism needs discipline. And the Central Government and the state must cooperate — disasters are national tragedies not occasions for political arithmetic.

The Himachal tragedies in 2023 and 2025 reflect climate change colluding with delay, hesitation and unsustainable development. Assistance that arrives after years consoles but does not heal. When warnings are ignored, disasters repeat — and the cost is always borne by ordinary citizens. The ventilator image of 2023 should has been a turning point. Instead, it remains a metaphor for how slowly we react when the Himalayas cry for help.

(The writer is a senior political analyst based in Shimla.)