Shame Himachal govt can't even run disaster relief fund, says actor Kangana Ranaut after 'failed attempts' to donate

Actor Kangana Ranaut has slammed the Himachal Pradesh government after '50-60' failed attempts to donate money online for disaster relief, claiming that the state cannot even run properly the fund set up for it.

Actor Kangana Ranaut has slammed the Himachal Pradesh government after making “50-60” failed attempts to donate money online for disaster relief, claiming that the state cannot even run properly the fund set up for it.

“Such a shame,” she said on microblogging site X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday night.

The actor, who hails from the hill state, however, managed to make the donation of Rs 5 lakh online and posted a screen shot indicating this.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s office pooh-poohed her claim, suggesting that this could be just a technical hitch.

“Trying to donate for the Himachal floods disaster but the government there can't even run aapada rahat kosh properly, such a shame, after trying the whole day more than 50-60 times could only donate some amount,” she posted, targeting the Congress-run state.

When contacted, Naresh Chauhan, the media advisor to the CM, said, “We don’t want to comment on Kangana's tweet. People have donated over Rs 200 crore towards the state disaster relief fund, a part of which was donated online and no such issue has come to our notice”.

"If there is some technical glitch it could be resolved. And people from all walks of life and even state governments have contributed towards the fund, which is being used for relief and rehabilitation,” he said.

Last month, Bollywood star Aamir Khan contributed Rs 25 lakh to the state’s disaster relief fund.

The governments of Assam, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh donated a total of over Rs 80 crore to help with relief and rehabilitation.

Temple trusts, NGOs and others have also come forward to help.

Heavy rains in the months of July and August caused huge damage to roads, water supply projects and houses. Over 300 people have died in the state in rain-related incidents since the monsoon began on June 24.

Sukhu has claimed that the state suffered losses of about Rs 12,000 crore. The state government has announced a special relief package of Rs 4,500 crore for the affected people.