State now paying rain fury compensation from central funds: Anurag in HP

Coming down heavily on the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur on Saturday claimed it claimed to provide relief to locals hit by the monsoon fury and the resultant landslides in the first two months of the calamity and were accusing the Centre of not releasing funds for disaster relief in a bid to hide their failure.

Speaking to ANI on Saturday, the Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister said, "Our government at the Centre provided Rs 862 crore in cash and Rs 2700 crore for repairing and restoring rural roads. We also sanctioned funds for building 11,000 houses. It is from the central funds that the state government is now playing compensation to the affected people."

"The state government should make public the amount it sanctioned as financial assistance to the affected people during the first two months of the rain-induced calamity."

Accusing the state government of not honouring athletes from Himachal, who shone at the recent Asian Games in Hangzhou, China and won medals for the country, the Union minister said, "The state government should take appropriate steps in this regard. If neighbouring states can provide Rs 1 crore and a job each to the victorious athletes at the Asian Games, there is no reason why the Himachal government can't."

In a dig at the INDIA bloc, he called the Opposition alliance a grouping of the corrupt, saying, "The people of the country will give them a befitting answer in the elections."

Thakur said he was hopeful that the Indian cricket team, which is unbeaten after four matches in the ongoing ODI World Cup, will go on to lift the coveted trophy.

Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur arrived in Bilaspur as the chief guest at the district-level Youth Festival, 2023.

The event was organised at the Multipurpose Cultural Building in Bilaspur on Saturday.