Shimla, Dec 27 (PTI) A debilitating natural disaster, constant financial crunch, and war against 'chitta' marked the year in Himachal Pradesh, which also witnessed historic court verdicts and a furore
over the mysterious death of a power corporation engineer.
Excessive rains during the monsoon caused havoc, triggering multiple cloudbursts, flash floods, and landslides in the state.
Nature's fury spared none, reducing houses, roads, bridges, and public utilities to rubble, stranding many and killing at least 240 people.
Chamba, Mandi, Kullu, and Kangra districts were hit the most severely.
The government invoked Section 34 of the National Disaster Management Act and declared the entire state "disaster-affected." By the end of it, the government pegged the state losses at Rs 5,000 crore.
The widespread destruction drew the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the wrecked districts and announced a relief package of Rs 1,500 crore.
That was hardly the end of it. The Congress government accused the Centre of not coming good on its promises of the relief grant, while the BJP parried the charge and accused the government of failing to meet people's expectations.
The BJP alleged that the state government was so debt-ridden that it was not in a position to pay the salaries and pensions of employees on time.
The charge was proven when the government deferred payment of enhanced salaries and allowances to current and former lawmakers.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu admitted the state's financial health was not going to improve till next year.
In March, the mysterious death of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) General Manager-cum-Chief Engineer Vimal Negi rocked the state.
On March 10, Negi went missing, and on March 18, his body was fished out of the Bhakra reservoir.
A Special Investigation Team was set up to probe the death, but Negi's family approached the high court demanding that the case be handed over to the CBI.
A confrontation with the state ensued when Negi's family refused to cremate his body and demanded action against the engineer's seniors at HPPCL.
Accusations were traded between former director general of police Atul Verma and Superintendent of Police (SP) Shimla Sanjeev Gandhi over how the investigation was led. Allegations of tampering with evidence and a report of the then additional chief secretary (ACS), Onkar Sharma, claiming that Negi was under pressure from his seniors to give undue favour to a firm, made the case more intense.
The Congress, for most of the year, remained without an organisational set-up with all its units dissolved, and only state chief Pratibha Singh allowed to be in her post in the party.
Though former deputy speaker Vinay Kumar was appointed the state Congress president in November, the party is yet to figure out its state executive and district and mandal units.
The BJP re-elected Dr Rajiv Bindal as state party chief for the third time in June.
The arrest of Ram Kumar Bindal, a brother of state BJP chief Rajiv Bindal, in a rape case and the booking of MLA Hans Raj under the POCSO Act gave the party cause for embarrassment.
The BJP alleged that its leaders were being targeted and flagged FIRs against three Independents and six Congress rebels who voted against their party in the 2024 Rajya Sabha elections, and later joined the BJP, as an instance of legal machinery misuse.
The state had to contend with several bomb hoaxes, threatening to blow up courts and hospitals and schools.
A spurt in shooting incidents was witnessed – one of them targeting former Congress MLA Bamber Thakur, who was injured with a gunshot.
Over the year, 646 people were killed in 1,585 accidents, while 2,420 were injured.
Seventy-one cases of murder, 74 cases of attempt to murder, 1,781 cases of drugs and narcotics, 336 cases of rape, and 445 cases of molestation were registered up to October 31, 2025.
A total of 496 cases of abduction and kidnapping were registered over the same period.
The abduction of three students of a high-profile boarding school in Shimla by an older student sent tongues wagging in the state capital.
Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and Panchayat elections were deferred because the Disaster Act was in force.
Communal cauldron remained on simmer over the Sanjauli Mosque, with Shimla seeing several protests by the Hindu right activists demanding the structure be demolished.
Three of its stories were demolished at the high court's order.
The collapse of a five-storey building near Bhattakuffar in Shimla enraged the public. The owner of the building blamed the reckless cutting of hills by a contractor roped in by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
Violence was injected into the affair when Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh was booked for assaulting NHAI officials.
Chitta menace continued to scare the residents even as the government launched a war against the white narcotic that has in its grip a chunk of the state's youth.
Heads were butted between the governor and the elected government over many matters, including the appointment of vice chancellors and the delay in assent to bills passed by the Vidhan Sabha.
The year ended with senior resident doctors going on mass leave and threatening to go on a strike after a doctor was terminated following a physical altercation with a patient in the IGMC Shimla. PTI BPL VN
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