The Andhra Pradesh Finance Department has clarified on Saturday that it is taking action strictly in conformity with the guidelines of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and A.P. Finance Code and the directives issued by Election Commission of India (ECI) from time to time in respect of all of its activities, including the clearing of pending bills.
It dismissed as baseless the allegations that it has been selective in clearing the bills of ‘unnamed’ contractors and it was making the payments only to contractors at the cost of welfare schemes.
In an official release, special chief secretary S.S. Rawat said the department made payments amounting to about ₹7,547 crore between May 14 and 18.
The funds disbursed through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under various schemes stood at Rs.5,869 crore and Centrally Sponsored schemes ₹600 crore. An expenditure of ₹459 crore was incurred on debt servicing.
Salaries and pensions accounted for ₹289 crore, administrative expenses ₹161 crore and power subsidies ₹100 crore. A major share of the expenditure i.e. around 78% was on account of the DBT schemes.
Contrary to the allegation of payments amounting to ₹4,000 crore made to a few unnamed contractors, in reality a meager payment of ₹7.01 crore was made towards works relating to courts and others.
