BJP Lok Sabha MPs from Himachal have failed to secure any significant financial assistance for the state: Bushehri
Devendra Bushehri, General Secretary (Coordination) and senior spokesperson of the Pradesh Congress Committee described the central budget presented by NDA government’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the new Parliament building hall yesterday as disappointing. He stated that, like other Congress-ruled states, Himachal Pradesh once again faced disappointment from the budget. It is noteworthy that Himachal Pradesh is a hilly forest-covered region. Due to 80% of the forest area being under central jurisdiction, there is not enough land available for industrialization, making conditions unfavorable for large industries. As a result, the state’s economy primarily relies on apples and tourism.
Although assurances have been given by the central government to strengthen the apple-based economy, nothing has been done on the ground. Despite having a BJP government both in the center and the state for the past ten years, not only has the import duty on imported foreign apples not been increased, but it has been reduced. Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not fulfill his promise to the apple growers of Himachal to have apple juice purchased by companies making soft drinks, and the central government’s stance on the support price for apples has been indecisive. While they talk about providing Kisan Samman Nidhi, the BJP has abolished the subsidies on pesticides, fertilizers, and farming equipment provided by the Congress government, and the continuous rise in the prices of these items has led to significant despair among the apple growers here.
Being a beautiful mountainous region, Himachal Pradesh has immense potential for tourism and hydropower projects, but the central government has not shown any seriousness towards these, and their attitude has always been disappointing.
Due to these reasons, the financial condition of Himachal Pradesh is continuously weakening, causing the state government to struggle with running activities, paying salaries to employees, and creating employment opportunities due to low industrialization, leading to a rising unemployment rate. This has resulted in the state’s economy emerging as a deficit economy, all thanks to the central Modi government.
Therefore, to overcome all these challenges, the current state government has to take loans at high interest rates due to the disappointing policies of the previous BJP government, which already inherited a massive debt of around 92,000 crore rupees from the former BJP government. Although the honorable Finance Minister discussed last year’s severe natural disaster in Himachal Pradesh during the budget presentation, it remains unclear when, how, and to what extent the state will be assisted.
It is worth remembering that last year, a central team visited the state to assess the historical natural disaster, after which the central government provided nominal financial assistance, whereas the Congress government of the state had requested the declaration of a natural disaster and reported a loss of 9,000 crore rupees in government property. However, the center neither considered it a national disaster. The then three BJP Lok Sabha MPs from the state also failed to secure any significant financial assistance for their state, whereas BJP-ruled states like Uttarakhand received ample financial aid from the central government. The central government’s stepmotherly dual attitude towards the small hilly state of Himachal Pradesh is undoubtedly condemnable, and this central budget has struck a blow to the interests of millions of people in Himachal Pradesh.
In this Lok Sabha election, while the public has elected BJP MPs on all four seats, the disaster-affected people expect that at least this time, the four BJP MPs will ensure that the central government promptly secures the 9,000 crore rupees in disaster relief funds for Himachal Pradesh according to the disaster relief report assessment from the Finance Minister.
