For instance, the Finance Department issued tokens in March and promised to clear the bills even in the new financial year. However, it kept the bills pending for more than one-and-a-half months in the new financial year before rejecting them

Hyderabad: The Finance Department of the Telangana Government has recently rejected payment of several pending bills for the year 2024-2025. The department’s sudden decision has come as a big shock to the contractors, private entities and retired government employees, who were all assured earlier that the pending bills would be cleared.

For instance, the Finance Department issued tokens in March and promised to clear the bills even in the new financial year. However, it kept the bills pending for more than one-and-a-half months in the new financial year. In a sudden move, the department rejected the bills a couple of days back, much to the chagrin of those waiting for the payments.

“Had the department rejected the tokens towards the end of the last financial year; we would have reapplied, and the processing could have been done by now. Rejecting them after keeping us waiting for over two months is painful, to say the least. We are not able to understand who is right and who is wrong in the Finance Department,” lamented a representative of a private entity, adding that it would be helpful for many if the Finance Minister clears the confusion and addresses the issue.

However, citing the shortage of funds, sources said that the Finance Department withheld payment of some bills last week, while urging all agencies to wait for some more days. “The government prepared plans to clear Rs 40,000 crore pending bills in the previous financial year. Practically, not more than 30 per cent of the bills were cleared due to paucity of funds. Approximately, Rs 1.45 lakh crore worth bills await payment”, sources said, adding that the new Secretary to the Finance Department Sandeep Kumar Sultania was reviewing the status of the pending bills and would take a decision soon. The department-wise pending bills are already under scrutiny for clearance, sources added.