Himachal Pradesh Is So Broke The CM Halved His Own Salary, Cut Ministers' Pay 30%, And Deferred 30% Of The Chief Secretary's And DGP's Wages For Six Months. The Notification Calls It 'Temporary'. It Does Not Specify Which Six Months.

On April 18, 2026, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's Finance (Regulations) Department issued a notification deferring 30 percent of the salaries of Himachal Pradesh's senior-most officials — Chief Secretary Sanjay Gupta, Director General of Police Ashok Tiwari, Additional Chief Secretaries, all Principal Secretaries, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests — for six months, beginning with the April salary that lands in May. A second tier of about 200 officers (Secretaries, HoDs, IG/DIG, SP-level officers, DFOs) faces a 20 percent deferment. Sukhu took a voluntary 50 percent cut on his own pay; the Council of Ministers, 30 percent; MLAs, 20 percent. The trigger: the Centre stopped Rs 10,000 crore in Revenue Deficit Grants and Rs 13,000 crore in GST compensation, leaving the state to slash Rs 3,586 crore from its 2026-27 budget. Bureaucrats absorbing roughly Rs 1 crore a month in collective deferments told reporters they were 'paying for political mismanagement'. The notification calls the cut 'temporary'. The state has not specified which six months.