Temple Funds: Finance Mess Unleash Political Firestorm Between Sukhu government and BJP in Himachal Pradesh

: Category: Latest; Published: 04 March 2025

Kuldeep Chauhan Editor-in-chief www.Himbumail.com

Himachal’s Financial Mess has unleashed a Political Firestorm Between Congress and BJP ahead of Budget Session starting next week here.

Himachal Pradesh is staring at a severe financial crisis, with debt soaring past ₹90,000 crore.

The Congress-led government, struggling to pay salaries and pensions, has turned to every possible source for financial aid. But its recent move—seeking contributions from state-managed temples—has triggered a political storm.

About 40 big temples are under government control in Himachal with funds running into over thousands of crotes, say the sources.

Temple Funds Row: BJP vs Congress

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s appeal to temples for financial help has drawn sharp criticism from the BJP.

The opposition has accused the Congress of being “anti-Sanatan” and attempting to misuse temple donations meant for religious purposes.

BJP leaders, including former CM Jai Ram Thakur, party president Dr. Rajeev Bindal, and spokesperson Ajay Rana, have vowed to block any such move.

Rana went a step further, declaring, "Not a single penny from temples will go to this government!"

BJP leaders alleged that the Congress government had its eyes on temple funds because it had failed to manage the state's finances.

According to BJP, temple money is meant for religious and charitable activities, not for covering up government mismanagement.

Centre vs State: The Blame Game Continues

Meanwhile, the Congress government has been pleading for financial help from the Centre.

It has sought its share of GST revenue, disaster relief funds, and the revenue deficit grant.

But Himachal’s Congress leaders, including CM Sukhu, Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, and PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh, claim the Modi government is deliberately withholding funds to destabilize their government.

They accuse BJP’s state leaders—Jai Ram Thakur, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, and other MPs—of lobbying in Delhi to block financial aid.

"The BJP wants to push Himachal into a deeper crisis just to gain political mileage," a Congress leader said.

Financial Woes Pile Up

The situation on the ground is grim. The state is struggling to pay employees, fund development projects, and manage routine expenses.

The New Pension Scheme (NPS) fund worth Rs 9 000 Crore or so still pending with the Centre.

Sukhu government remains ambivalent on NPS, OPS, now UPS announced by the Modi government.

Will Sukhu give up OPS and oot for UPS for smooth transfer of NOS funds to the state?

The state babus and pensioners are up in arms against the Sukhu government for not releasing pendiing arrears.

Now, with no bailout in sight, the government is looking for desperate measures as CM is presenting the budget on March 10 in the Vidhan Sabha here.

Pleading its justification, Congress insists that temple funds, if used, would go towards cow protection and temple development, not for general government expenses.

However, the BJP isn’t buying it. "This is just a cover-up. They are after temple wealth because they have no money left due to the mismanagement by the Sukhugovernment, which has claimedto make Himachal self-reliantby 2028-29," a BJP leader remarked.

Congress Counterattack: ‘BJP Playing Communal Politics’

In response, the Congress has hit back, accusing the BJP of misleading people.

The party claims that when BJP was in power, it too controlled temple funds but faced no backlash.

“Why didn’t BJP object when they were in charge of temple committees?” a Congress spokesperson asked.

They also pointed out that the Modi government has not been releasing due funds to states governed by opposition parties.

“Himachal is being treated unfairly because we are not ruled by the BJP. This is a political conspiracy,” Congress leaders argue.

Political Tug-of-War: Who Will Blink First?

With no financial relief in sight, the temple funds controversy is turning into a full-blown political war.

While the BJP is using the issue to corner the Congress, the ruling party is using it to accuse the Centre of economic discrimination.

Amid all this, ordinary citizens are bearing the brunt. Government employees are anxious about their salaries, development projects are stalled, and the state’s economy is hanging by a thread.

As the Congress and BJP lock horns, one question remains—who will rescue Himachal from this financial nightmare?

Or will political grandstanding push the state deeper into crisis? Will the Budget 2025-26 reflect the financial crisis? How will Sukhu walk the tight rope?

People of Himachal are observing it more keenly than ever before.

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The India Justice Report (IJR) 2025 has offered fresh insights into how states are performing across the four pillars of justice—Police, Judiciary, Prisons, and Legal Aid. While some states like Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim show encouraging trends, others like Punjab and Uttarakhand reflect critical areas of concern

Himachal Pradesh: Steady and Improving

Himachal Pradesh ranked 2nd among the seven small states, making a notable improvement since IJR 2022, where it stood at 6th. The state performed especially well in legal aid and prison reforms, suggesting a sincere effort to enhance access to justice in remote regions.

Punjab: Strong Judiciary, Weak Prisons

Punjab secured 4th place among 18 large states, with top-three rankings in judiciary, police, and legal aid. However, it dropped to 16th in prison management, raising alarms over overcrowding, undertrial delays, and poor inmate rehabilitation efforts.

-Northeast: Sikkim Leads, AFSPA States Excluded

Sikkim topped the small states category, with top positions in police, judiciary, and legal aid, making it a justice delivery model for other hilly regions. Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura also made the top three.

However, Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland were excluded from rankings due to the continued presence of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which limits independent assessment of policing and justice.

Uttarakhand: Troubling Signs in a Peaceful State

Uttarakhand, once considered a peaceful and law-abiding state, continues to underperform in justice delivery. In IJR 2022, it ranked 16th among 18 large and mid-sized states, trailing behind Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand—states typically associated with deeper governance challenges.

While its 2025 position has improved slightly, it still ranks in the bottom tier, reflecting persistent issues in police accountability, legal aid outreach, and overall infrastructure.

Anoop Nautiyal, founder of the Social Development for Communities Foundation, expressed deep concern over this downward trajectory:

> “This is not the Uttarakhand we knew. The rising tolerance for public aggression and violent rhetoric—often from influential quarters—has started eroding the very democratic values the state was built on. When law and justice take a backseat to fear and showmanship, it’s the common citizen who suffers.”

He added:

> “Improving in reports like the IJR isn’t just about numbers. It’s about how safe and fair people feel their state is.

That begins with accountability at the top, judicial efficiency at the grassroots, and a total rejection of violence in political discourse.”

The Road Ahead

As per the India Justice Report’s own recommendations, states need to:

Increase budgets for legal aid

Fill vacancies in police and judiciary

Upgrade infrastructure

Ensure time-bound justice for undertrials

Uttarakhand, Punjab, and others must now confront these challenges head-on—before public trust slips further.

Justice, after all, is not just about rankings—it’s about people feeling heard, protected, and treated fairly.

#JusticeDelayedIsJusticeDenied #ReformNow #IJR2025 #RuleOfLaw #DemocracyInAction

News

Big Sharks in Land Grab Net: ED Attaches 707 Acres worth Rs 1469 Crore on Sahara Money Laundering Case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has cracked down hard on one of the country’s biggest financial scams, attaching prime land spread over 707 acres in the plush Amby Valley City of Lonavala—linked to the tainted Sahara Group.

The attached property, believed to be worth a staggering Rs 1,460 crore, has been seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

This latest action by the ED in Kolkata exposes how India’s financial big sharks use complex webs of companies and proxies to park black money in land and luxury real estate.

The land parcels were found to be in the names of multiple individuals—many of them mere fronts—pointing to a deliberate design to camouflage illicit funds through property acquisition.

Sources said the seized lands were part of the iconic Amby Valley project, once pitched as India's first planned hill city with ultra-luxurious villas and world-class amenities.

But over time, this dream city turned into a money-laundering safe haven for the Sahara Group, which is already under the scanner for duping millions of investors through shady deposit schemes.

ED officials revealed that the attachment is part of a wider investigation into Sahara India and its group entities, which are accused of amassing unaccounted wealth and routing it through shell firms.

The agency has already frozen several assets linked to the group and is reportedly zeroing in on more benami properties spread across the country.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” a senior ED official said. “We are tracking more such fraudulent investments disguised under layers of bogus entities.”

The case serves as yet another reminder of how India’s real estate market has become the go-to vehicle for laundering black money, especially in tourist hotspots and fast-developing luxury zones.

Despite multiple reforms and digital land records, the big fish continue to bend the rules, while common people struggle with land disputes and paperwork.

News

HP CM Sukhu Takes Himachal Day to Pangi, Promises Galore and Vyastha Parivartan

Himachal Day in Pangi: Promises, Parades, and Political posturing..

Pangi/Shimla: In a first, the State-Level Himachal Day celebration was airlifted to the remote tribal belt of Killar in Pangi Valley, Chamba—78 years since the state's formation.

The move was painted as a gesture of inclusion by Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, but behind the fluttering flags and flashy parades lies a valley still gasping for basic amenities.

Big Announcements, Bigger Gaps

From the helipad stage, CM Sukhu dropped a Rs. 45.50 crore promise for a 33 KV line from Thirot to Killar, and Rs. 5 crore more for an 11 KV line from Tindi to Shaur.

But locals know the drill—projects get announced faster than they get executed. Power outages remain routine and the terrain still suffers from darkness post-sundown.

He declared Udaipur-Killar road as a top priority and claimed the tender process is "almost complete".

However, the road continues to test every wheel and will of those who dare to drive it.

Administration from both Lahaul-Spiti and Chamba has been nudged to "expedite" paperwork.

Natural Farming – Buzzword or Backbone?

Pangi has now been branded Himachal’s first natural farming sub-division with a Rs. 5 crore revolving fund.

A Minimum Support Price of Rs. 60/kg for barley was also announced. But with erratic market access and poor transportation, even organically-grown dreams struggle to reach the mandis.

Tourism and Transport: A Bumpy Ride

The CM dangled 20 new bus permits and a 40% subsidy for bus purchases with four months of road tax exemption.

Yet, the valley remains underserved with only a handful of ageing buses plying across dangerous, landslide-prone roads.

A 50% waiver on home stay registration fees was also announced—welcome, but insufficient without internet, banking access, or tourist inflow.

Healthcare & Education: Patchy Promises

The Civil Hospital in Killar is to be made into an Adarsh Swasthya Sansthan, and a milk processing plant with 10,000-litre capacity is to be set up.

The promise of a Rajiv Gandhi Day Boarding School sounds noble—but remains hollow in a valley where even middle school students walk kilometres on foot daily.

Tribal Sentiment or Political Stunt?

Sukhu invoked former PM Indira Gandhi’s 1984 visit to Pangi, attempting to deepen the Congress connect in the tribal belt.

But while history was remembered, legacy leaders were conveniently forgotten.

Notably absent from the spotlight were supporters of late CM Virbhadra Singh—like senior leader Thakur Singh Bharmauri and his son.

Instead, Sukhu seemed more focused on propping up his own loyalist brigade, turning a government event into a clear signal of intra-party turf-building.

More Schemes, Fewer Solutions

From the Rajiv Gandhi Van Samvardhan Yojana (Rs. 100 crore) to solar energy subsidies and green state goals, the announcements kept flowing.

But implementation remains the Achilles' heel. A new policy to settle farm loans up to Rs. 3 lakh with a 50% interest subsidy might offer some relief—if red tape doesn't choke it first.

Cultural Colour, But Underlying Monochrome

The parade led by six contingents and cultural programmes brought festive flair. Officers and government employees were felicitated, including teachers and doctors.

But for locals, the takeaway wasn’t the spectacle—it was the Rs. 4,500 handout to 1,926 women under the Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana, leaving others to wait “for paperwork to complete.”

Police Awards and Drug Crackdown

Police stations from Bilaspur, Mandi, Kangra, and Una were awarded for excellence.

Meanwhile, the CM promised to expand the Anti-Narcotics Task Force—a timely move, as even remote valleys like Pangi aren't immune to the growing menace.

#HimachalDay #PangiValley #SukhuSarkar #RemotePromises #NaturalFarming #PowerPolitics #TokenismVsTransformation #VirbhadraLegacyIgnored #BharmauriOut #CongressCracks #PromisesVsReality #HimachalAt78 #PoliticalOptics #DevelopmentDrama #HillPolitics #KillarKaSawaal

News

Forest Rights Denied: Farmers, Parties Lambast Forest Officials for Misguiding the State and Court on Act

Forest Rights Denied: Himachal Farmers Left in the Lurch. Farners, Parties, Lambasts HP Forest PrCF and Retired Forest Officials for their ill-conceived Legal War from Urban Mansions

Shimla: As the Himachal government finally initiates workshops in Shimla, Mandi, and Dharamshala to sensitise officials on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 — a long-pending demand by farmers and tribal rights groups — a fresh controversy has erupted.

The issue needs to be understood in all its context-,traditionally, historically and Legally. The Forest Conservation Act 1980 has branded all wastelands as Forests. If Act sats so, then same Act, Forest Rights Act, 2006 also has uphold forest rights of the communitues including forest dwellers and tribals. If all wasteland are forest land then in the same legal spirit, all village communities living around the forests are forest dwellers and hence have the Right to own the land and have rights to have over forest resources.

Historically, the ruling elites had alloted best and fertile land to their kith and kin and majority of village communities live on the edge.

Due to cataclysmic plgue, droughts and natural disasters over the centuries led the forest village communities to shift from one place to other safer places but near the forests.

These once cultivated tracts of land have traces of cultivation in Shimla, Kullu, Kangra, Chamba, Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts as well. Today these lands have forest grown-up there.

Subsequently, government used to allot nautor land to the villagers, taking care of the expanded families, a practice that came to halt when the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 came into force.

After independence, Bhoodan Andolan and land ceiling Act, and return of the land to Mujaras, changed the status of land insignificantly for the vast majority of poor villagers who used to eke out living from the forest, guchhi, Banaksha, herbs and the like and graze their sheep and goats in the forests.

The Notification issued by the HP Pr chief Conservator of Forests has created a piquant situation in the state willing to find a way out from the present morass.

Today, Central Committee member of the CPI(M) and former Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat has slammed the directives recently issued by the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, calling them “completely illegal, unconstitutional and an insult to the genuine efforts” being made by the state government to extend forest rights to the most marginalised.

The CPI(M), which has now officially joined the protest, has demanded immediate withdrawal of the controversial guidelines that contradict the very essence of FRA.

The party reminded the government that the Forest Rights Act was born out of decades of struggle, with Left parties playing a crucial role during the UPA regime to make FRA, MGNREGA and RTI part of the national policy framework.

In her letter to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Brinda Karat pointed out that the said officer, by misquoting the Supreme Court and arbitrarily limiting FRA claims only to the landless or “economically vulnerable,” is blatantly rewriting the Act.

“Such directions are not just illegal; they’re dangerous,” she wrote.

“The Act doesn’t ask for Aadhaar cards for community elders verifying land use; such bureaucratic hurdles are being weaponised to deny the poor their rights.”

Retrospectively, it was the then BJP government in 2001–2002 which had brought in the policy to regularise land occupied by farmers, under which over 1.56 lakh farmers had applied with hope and legal backing.

Now, these very farmers face the threat of eviction, after a self-styled ‘protector’ of Shimla forests and vocal critic of government policies moved the High Court, painting thousands as “encroachers.”

Farmers in Himachal have long protested being branded as ‘encroachers’ on their own land — land they’ve cultivated for generations, land that barely adds up to a few biswas and bighas today due to increasing family sizes and shrinking holdings.

Their relationship with the forest is one of coexistence, not destruction. These communities collect fuelwood for their hearths, fodder for their cattle, and herbs for traditional medicines — all while being the first responders to forest fires and natural disasters, not the retired Janglati babus or serving conservators living in plush homes in metros and cities.

Ironically, it is these very former forest officials, now far removed from the realities of mountain life, who have filed petitions in the Supreme Court questioning the legality of FRA — a law that could be a lifeline for lakhs of tribal and poor farming families in Himachal and other Himalayan states and across India.

“These bureaucrats enjoyed fat paychecks, continue to draw hefty pensions, and now act like self-styled guardians of forests,” says Sanjay Chauhan, from Seb Utpadak Sangh , who is among leaders, leading the fight of the deprived farmers in Himachal.

“But they have no idea what it means to be thrown out of your land, to watch your ancestral home sealed, or to fight every season to keep farming alive in fragile hills.”

Farmer organisations like Seb Utpadak Sangh, Himachal Kisan Sabha, and Himalayan Niti Abhiyan have warned the government that unless the FRA is implemented in its true spirit and encroachment cases withdrawn, protests will only intensify in days to come.

They have lauded the CM’s assurance during the Vidhan Sabha budget session that the state would plead the case in the Supreme Court in support of farmers — but question why forest department officers continue to sabotage those efforts from within.

Will the Supreme Court listen to these urbane-bred few voices of privilege, or will it stand with the villagers and forest dwellers — the real conservators of Himalayan ecosystems — whose livelihoods depend on this very land?

This is no longer just about land. It’s about dignity, justice, and the survival of a people who’ve nurtured nature, not looted it.

Do the court want village communities as stakeholders in the ecosystems or uprooters and destroyers?

By alienating the villagers from the Forests will go a long way in the destruction of forests.

The court and the government have to make choice right here, right under the Forest Righrs Act, 2006. But, yes, they need to bridal the greedy few. There is no other wayout.

#ForestRightsNow

#HimachalFarmersFight

#EndEvictionsInHills

#BabusVsPeople

#ImplementFRA2006

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