India, March 2 -- Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu met Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Monday, warning of an "imminent fiscal collapse" after the 16th Finance Commission scrapped the Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) for 2026-31. The move is expected to strip the state of nearly 25% of its revenue receipts, prompting the CM to seek an urgent financial package under special central assistance.

Green bonus and constitutional appeals

To counter the resource gap, Sukhu demanded a first-of-its-kind annual Rs.50,000 crore 'Green Bonus' as compensation for preserving 67% forest cover at the cost of industrial growth. Invoking Article 275(1) of the Constitution, he argued that discontinuing the RDG-whic...