Govt evading responsibility amid calamity, alleges Anurag Thakur

Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur alleged that the state government was evading its responsibilities at a time when the state is grappling with a natural disaster. Addressing a press conference, Thakur accused the government of misleading the public, spreading misinformation and politicising the disaster for its own benefit. He dismissed the government's demand to declare the disaster a "national calamity" as mere theatrics.

He pointed out that the Congress-led UPA-2 government in 2013 had removed the provision for declaring any natural disaster as a national disaster. He questioned, “On what basis is the Congress now demanding something their own government abolished over a decade ago?”

Highlighting discrepancies in the state government’s claims, Thakur said the government constantly accuses the Centre of not providing aid while the official documents tabled in the Legislative Assembly acknowledge that the Centre has provided thousands of crores in disaster relief over the past three years. He lambasted the government for announcing Rs 4,500 crore in relief for disaster-affected citizens in 2023, out of which only Rs 256 crore has been disbursed so far.

Thakur said the Central Government released Rs 3,058 crore in disaster-related assistance. He added that under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) Himachal received Rs 1,280.40 crore from the Centre while under State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) Rs 319.95 crore was allocated. He said that National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) of Rs 1,637.84 crore was additionally sanctioned by the centre and in current fiscal year centre provided an 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 aid provided under the Modi government with that of the Congress-led UPA, Thakur said, “The Modi government has provided three times more funds under SDRF and over five times more under NDRF than what the Congress did in 10 years. He added that from 2014 to 2025 Rs 3,190.39 crore was given under SDRF compared to Rs 947.41 crore in previous decade. Similarly, NDRF aid increased from Rs 553.29 crore to Rs 2,684.88 crore under the BJP government.”

Replying on the statement of Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on flaws in making DPR’s of roads leading to destruction, Thakur said there is always scope of improvement and DPR’s are major component in execution of any project.