Shimla, Jan. 29 -- Fighting the state's fiscal crunch and repeated disasters, Himachal Pradesh pins hope that provision for "Green Fund" will be made in the upcoming Union budget. Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has been pressing the Centre for creating a separate 'Green Fund' with earmarked annual allocation of Rs 50,000 crore for hill states. Calling the hill states "Green Frontiers" and "Lungs of North India", keeping in view the ecological services being provided by them, the chief minister during his recent meeting with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, had once again strongly pleaded for creating a separate 'Green Fund' with earmarked annual allocation of Rs 50,000 crore for hill states. Even in his meeting with Union ministers on Tuesday, Sukhu had pushed for the revised formula proposed by the state for horizontal devolution for increasing the weightage for the criteria of forest and ecology. He urged that snow-covered-cum cold desert areas above tree lines should be included along with very dense forests and moderate sense forest areas for their symbiotic relationship. Sukhu has pressed for the Rs 50,000 crore Green Fund for the hill states from the special central assistance to the states for capital investment. Himachal has been facing losses owing to the disaster for the last three years, so the state has been seeking Centre's support to invest in climate resilient and ecologically sensitive development. htc...