Congress hits out at Nadda, says Himachal Pradesh yet to receive Rs 1,500-crore disaster relief package

The Congress on Sunday hit out at the Centre over its Rs 1,500 crore relief promise, saying that none of it has reached the disaster-hit state.

Tribal Development Minister Jagat Singh Negi and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh, in a statement, said Himachal Pradesh had yet to receive the package of Rs 1,500 crore, even months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it.

They also said that the Rs 9,200 crore deposited under the National Pension Scheme (NPS) has been withheld by the Union government.

“The state’s borrowing limit was reportedly curtailed by Rs 1,600 crore after the government decided to implement the OPS, causing a total loss of Rs 4,800 crore to the state over the last three years,” the two leaders said.

They also trained their guns at BJP president JP Nadda, who hails from the state.

They said Nadda must intervene, and he has to realise that the debt burden is increasing due to the withholding of the state’s share by the Centre.

According to the statement, the state’s 2023 monsoon loss was pegged at around Rs 9,000-9,500 crore by an assessment by the Centre.

The Himachal government submitted a claim of Rs 9,042 crore under the PDNA framework for recovery and reconstruction efforts.

However, the state is still awaiting the full amount of nearly Rs 10,000 crore under the PDNA, along with a separate Rs 1,500 crore package announced earlier, they said.

“The state, from its own resources, provided a package of Rs 4,500 crore to the disaster-affected state without any special package announced by the Centre,” they added.