Priority sector to get funds

The state government on Tuesday decided to release funds to the priority sectors first. Caught in a severe financial crunch, several key departments like irrigation, power, school education, welfare and rural developments were deprived of funds even to meet their regular expenditure.

Acting on a news item published by this newspaper on Tuesday, the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, convened a high-level meeting wherein all finance secretaries were asked to prepare a list of dues to be paid immediately.

It was noticed that bills amounting to Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000 were kept pending and needed immediate attention. The irrigation department dues are pegged at Rs 3,500 crore, scholarship dues at Rs 1,600 crore, Pavala Vaddi scheme dues at nearly Rs 300 crore and mid-day meal scheme dues are at about Rs 500 crore. All these have been were pending for the last three months.

Mr K Rosaiah directed the finance officials to clear the old dues in a phased manner without stopping the regular bills.

The meeting finalised a strategy wherein the finance department would pay part of the old dues along with regular bills.

To meet the monthly requirements, the officials decided to adhere to the monthly targets for the revenue collection.

“If the monthly targets of revenue collections are not met, even the regular payments cannot be made. The Chief Minister asked us to plan clearing off of the old dues in the next six months,” said a senior official.

The meeting also decided to extend government guarantee for Rs 400 crore to the APSRTC, which is raising loans from the open market. State government would provide counter guarantee for these loans. It was also decided to give Rs 30 crore to the RTC to meet the regular needs.

The Chief Minister asked the irrigation officials to prepare an action plan to clear all pending bills by this year end.