Yog Raj Sharma
The North News
Shimla, September 2
The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday concluded its 12-day monsoon session, one of the state’s longest, with a resolution urging the Centre to declare the state’s recent devastation as a national disaster and provide a special relief package. The session, which ran for 59 hours with 98% productivity, was dominated by debates on the widespread damage caused by monsoon floods and landslides. Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania said that more than 33 hours were devoted to disaster discussions, while 11 government bills were passed and one was withdrawn. A total of 690 questions were raised during proceedings.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu told the House that Himachal Pradesh has been officially declared a disaster-affected state. He appealed for cross-party support in pressing the Union government for a relief package, and announced compensation of ₹7 lakh for those who lost homes, under the revised disaster relief manual. He also confirmed that panchayat elections would be held on schedule. Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur criticised the government’s disaster response, accusing it of providing misleading figures and failing to manage relief operations effectively. He alleged that corruption and mismanagement had plagued the administration and described the state as being “on sale”, pointing to the selling of tourism assets.
Despite the sharp exchanges, both sides expressed support for the demand to the Centre for declaring the disaster as a national calamity and ensuring special assistance for the state.
