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. Even in June 2025 he had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce a Green Fund of Rs 50,000 crore for 11 hill states of the country which are the green frontiers, combating the adverse impacts of climate change. Calling the North Eastern and other hill states as "Green Frontiers" and "ecological power houses" delivering critical eco-system services to the entire nation. The request for the Green Fund for the hill states is based on a study undertaken by the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, on the request of the Himachal government. Making a case for Special Central Assistance, the CM had been maintaining that the dense forests of these 11 hill states absorb huge quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide, making a contribution to India's climate change goals. The IIFM has estimated the carbon and climate regulation value provided by Himachal alone at Rs 1.65 lakh crore. 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 Pradesh 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 with sustainable infrastructure. The state pressing for Special Central Assistance has pointed out that the hill states are increasingly becoming vulnerable to unplanned infrastructure expansion, deforestation and degradation of habitats and unsustainable tourism which are only intensifying the impact of climate change. Even on the Republic Day, the Chief Minister had expressed concern over climate change by saying, "Winter cycle has been delayed by almost one month. Earlier, snowfall used to occur around December 23, 24 or 25, but this time it happened a month later. Somewhere, the impact of climate change is visible." "In the last three years, natural disasters have occurred continuously. In 2023-24, disasters struck Kullu-Manali and several other parts of the state. In 2024, a disaster occurred in the Samij area of Rampur, and in 2025-26, the entire state faced calamities," he had said while adding, "We are moving forward in the direction of fighting climate change"....