'Will provide details': Buggana dismisses PAC chairman's allegations on Rs. 41,000 Cr irregularities

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy on Tuesday dismissed the allegations of PAC chairman Payyavula Keshav who had alleged that Rs. 41,000 crore remained unaccounted for. The minister said there are complete details regarding the transactions of Rs. 41,000 crore and said it was another false propaganda by the Opposition TDP leaders.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the minister said that the allegations made by the PAC chairman are baseless. He said PAC should have discussed the issue with the government instead of writing letters to the Governor and conducting press conferences.

Mr. Rajendranath Reddy said the Opposition should know the facts before addressing the public and if there are any doubts, they can be resolved through a meeting. He said it was untrue that the money was paid without bills and claimed it was due to programming errors in the CFMS. CAG has sought clarification on the payment of Rs. 41,000 crore and all details will be sent to the AG's office, the minister added.

He said that the previous government had introduced CFMS back in 2018 and was handed over to a private party without any supervision by the government. Since then, all payments are being done through CFMS instead of the treasury. In 2020-21, almost Rs. 10,895 crore was reverted back from PD accounts due to programming errors in CFMS, he said, adding there is a need to resolve this.

Regarding the allegations of Andhra's debt to Telangana, he clarified that the two states have been paying back the debt incurred by United Andhra Pradesh. There is no such provision of getting a loan in the name of another state, he said and added that over 1.31 crore people have received welfare initiatives from the state government during COVID-19 and there is no problem in paying salaries to employees.