Context

Posting on X, Nadda said: 'मुख्यमंत्री सुखविंदर सिंह सुक्खू जो रोना रोते हैं कि हमें पैसे नहीं मिल रहे' ('Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu keeps complaining that he is not getting funds') — and then laid out what he called the 'real picture'. He stated that in 2021-22, Himachal Pradesh was given Rs 360 crore under PM-ABHIM for health infrastructure, with a mandate to construct 15 critical care blocks. As of 2025-26, when the scheme is scheduled to end, not a single critical care unit has been built in the state, he alleged. The minister concluded that the funds, having gone unspent, would now be returned to the Centre.

Policy Backdrop

PM-ABHIM was announced in the 2021-22 Union Budget with a national outlay of Rs 64,180 crore over five years, aimed at creating 602 critical care blocks across the country and strengthening district- and block-level health infrastructure in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme operates as a centrally sponsored programme, with states required to execute construction and submit utilisation certificates. Fund lapse occurs when states fail to spend allocated amounts within the scheme's operational window.

The broader Ayushman Bharat architecture — which also includes the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) health insurance component launched in 2018 — has been a flagship of the BJP-led central government. Centre-state disputes over implementation and fund utilisation have been a recurring feature, particularly in states governed by non-NDA parties.

Stakeholders and Impact

The most direct impact falls on residents of Himachal Pradesh, a hill state where access to critical care facilities is constrained by terrain and sparse hospital density. The 15 critical care blocks that were planned would have added intensive-care capacity at district hospitals, benefiting patients requiring emergency and post-surgical care. If the funds lapse, the state would need to seek fresh allocations — potentially under a successor scheme or revised central programme — to build equivalent infrastructure.

CM Sukhu and the state's Congress government have not yet responded publicly to Nadda's specific claims as of the time of this report. The state health department's utilisation records and physical progress reports under PM-ABHIM would be the definitive arbiters of the factual dispute.

What's Next

With PM-ABHIM set to close in 2025-26, final utilisation certificates and physical progress audits are due imminently. Any unspent balance confirmed by the Union Health Ministry would formally revert to the Consolidated Fund of India. The episode is likely to intensify scrutiny of scheme implementation records across other opposition-ruled states ahead of the next Union Budget cycle, where supplementary health infrastructure allocations could become a political flashpoint.