Andhra Pradesh finance minister Buggana Rajendranath on Tuesday clarified that there were absolutely no irregularities in the accounts of the state finances and there were bills for every paisa spent by the state government.
He was reacting to a series of allegations being made by senior Telugu Desam Party MLA and Public Accounts Committee chairman Payyavula Kesav that there were the serious lapses in the accounts of the state finances to the extent of Rs 41,000 crore, as pointed out by the Principal Accountant General.
“Kesav is making unwarranted criticism on the state’s financial position. He is making a hue and cry based on a letter written by accountant general office. His allegations are ridiculous and far from truth,” the minister said.
Buggana said if there were irregularities to the tune of Rs 41,000 crore, there were systems which would look into them.
“I don’t understand why Kesav chose to write letters to the Governor and leak them to the media. He should have held a meeting of the PAC and sought clarifications from the government,” he said.
He said the audit firm had sought certain clarifications over the payments of bills for Rs 41,000 crore and the government would clarify every query.
“There is no truth in the allegations that payments were made without any bills. We have bills for the payment of every single rupee,” he said.
The finance minister blamed it on the Comprehensive Financial Management System (CFMS) introduced by the TDP government in 2018 for the present controversy.
“Under this system, all the payments are being centralised. This led to the controversy over payments,” he said.