Shimla, February 16 The debate on discontinuing the Revenue Deficit Grant in the Himachal Pradesh assembly led to a heated exchange on Monday, with the ruling Congress asserting that the issue goes beyond parties, but impacts the interests of 75 lakh people in the state.
The opposition, meanwhile, accused the government of "politicizing the issue", and asked it to cut down on wasteful expenditure instead.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Industry, Harshwardhan Chauhan, presented a resolution on this matter, and initiated the debate in the House.
The resolution noted that the state was receiving Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) under Articles 275 and 280 of the Constitution from the 5th to the 15th Finance Commissions. However, following recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission, the central government has discontinued this grant from the next financial year, leading to an economic crisis in the state, the minister said.
Chouhan said that Himachal Pradesh's share of central taxes has been significantly reduced since the discontinuation of Goods and Service tax (GST) compensation. Furthermore, the RDG is also set to be discontinued from the next financial year, derailing the state's economic situation.
In contrast to the generous financial assistance from the 15th Finance Commission, the subsequent commission has completely withdrawn support, the minister said.
He also noted that the state had earned the highest revenue in its history in the year 2025-26.
Participating in the discussion, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that the state government laments the closure of the RDG every day, but is unwilling to stop wasteful expenditure. When the BJP left power, the state had a debt of Rs 69,600 crore, which has now increased to Rs 1.10 lakh crore, he said.
He advised Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to immediately reconsider the "appointments given to his friends in the government" and said that if the "wasteful expenditure" continues, employees' salaries, allowances, pensions, development and other planned and non-planned works will definitely be in danger in the future.
He further attacked the ruling party and said making statements against Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not alleviate the economic crisis.
Thakur further said that the opposition will consider these government decisions and will support them if they are correct, otherwise not.
Meanwhile, during the discussion on the RDG, Sukhu said despite the severe economic crisis, the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) introduced for employees will not be discontinued, and the government will not privatise the State Electricity Board, but will strengthen it further.
He asked the opposition if it was willing to approach the prime minister on the RDG issue, adding that the future impact of the 16th Finance Commission's recommendations is unimaginable.
"The government will fight this battle like a war and will win," he said.
Congress MLA from Theog, Kuldeep Rathore, said the issue of closing the RDG is not a political issue. Himachal still needs to recover from the losses caused by natural disasters like the 2023 and 2025 monsoons. he said.
Furthermore, Himachal cannot be compared to states like Karnataka because it has limited avenues for resource generation, Rathore said, adding that providing funds to the state under various central government schemes is not a favour, but a right under the federal structure.
BJP MLA Randhir Sharma raised the issue of government's "wasteful expenditure" and said that in such a situation, the government cannot cry foul over the RDG.
He said the government's aim in raising the RDG issue is not to obtain central aid, but to purely politicise the issue. He said that the Congress is running the government and if they can't run it, they should leave and the BJP will run it.
