Sourabh Sood
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is scheduled to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Monday (November 17, 2025), in a meeting that state officials say will focus primarily on release of pending central relief funds, reconstruction of disaster-damaged infrastructure and demands for a special central package for the hill state.
According to state sources and earlier media reports, Sukhu, who has visited Delhi several times this year to press the Centre on relief and restoration following the heavy cloudbursts and flash floods that battered parts of Himachal in recent months, will press for early disbursal of funds under the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and seek relaxation or revision of central norms for relief to make them more suitable for hilly states.
State list of issues
Immediate release of pending PDNA/relief tranches for the 2023 and subsequent disasters; state officials have previously said the 2023 losses were close to Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 crore and that disbursements remain outstanding.
Special package or additional central assistance to accelerate reconstruction of roads, bridges and hydropower/irrigation works damaged in cloudbursts and floods.
Road and connectivity projects under national schemes (including requests to prioritise more stretches under PM Gati-Shakti) to rebuild strategic hill roads and restore vital links to remote areas.
Flexibility in central relief norms
Sukhu has earlier urged that the current relief ceilings be revised (he has pushed to raise some normative limits from 10% to a higher slab to reflect hilly-state costs).
Other administrative and financial issues concerning state disaster response funds and coordination with central agencies.
Officials in Shimla told this reporter that Sukhu will also seek “liberal support” from the Home Ministry for faster sanctioning of restoration works and the release of pending instalments already approved by the Centre. In prior Delhi meetings this year, the Chief Minister raised similar points and requested quicker flow of funds to the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
