Sukhu donates all of his savings to Himachal disaster relief fund
The CM, along with his wife Kamlesh Thakur, presented a cheque for ₹51 lakh to chief secretary Prabodh Saxena at their official residence in Shimla
Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday donated his savings of ₹51 lakh to the state disaster relief fund to extend a helping hand to the people affected by natural calamities, a statement said.
The CM, along with his wife Kamlesh Thakur, presented a cheque for ₹51 lakh to chief secretary Prabodh Saxena at their official residence.
“I could well understand the pain of the people and their plight during the recent monsoon fury in which more than 260 precious lives were lost and many rendered homeless, besides suffering huge losses,” the chief minister said.
Every section of society had voluntarily contributed towards the relief fund. Even children broke their piggy banks to help those in distress, the elders parted with their pension and the state government employees contributed generously from their salary to contribute towards the Aapda Raahat Kosh (disaster relief fund), he added.
As many as 272 people have died in rain-related incidents since the onset of monsoon on June 24 till September 14 and the state has suffered losses of ₹8,680 crore as per the state emergency operation centre and the loss estimates are still pouring in.
He said that the state was carrying out restoration and relief works through its own resources as little help had arrived from the centre. The CM has been constantly urging the Centre to declare the floods and landslide in the state as national calamity. Sukhu had also raised the issue when Bharatiya Janata Party national president Jagat Prakash Nadda and Union minister Anurag Thakur visited flood-hit areas of the state. The CM had claimed that the state has suffered losses of ₹12,000 crore.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, during her two-day visit to rain-affected areas of Kullu, Mandi and Shimla, had said that the issue would be raised in the special session of Parliament.
Sukhu had also given away his one year’s salary and contributed ₹11 lakh towards the state relief fund during the Covid-19 pandemic, the statement said.
