Shimla, Aug. 28 -- Himachal Pradesh, battered by incessant monsoon rains, witnessed rare political unanimity on Wednesday when the State Assembly passed a resolution under Rule 102, urging the Union Government to declare the ongoing rain and flood-induced destruction as a national calamity and to sanction a special relief package for the hill state. The Opposition BJP supported the resolution without dissent.

Presiding over the House, Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania convened a high-level meeting inside the Assembly premises with senior officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and state government departments to review road restoration efforts and coordination in ongoing relief operations.

"Hill states face ...