CAG report on State expenditure: Congress demands release of white paper

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Wednesday demanded an explanation from the State government on spending a sum of Rs 94,399 crore without budgetary allocation throwing the State into deep economic crisis.

In a statement released from the party headquarters Andhra Ratna Bhavan here, PCC president Dr Sake Sailajanath demanded a white paper on the CAG report regarding expenditure which was spent without completing a single project. The CAG report says that the State government has spent more than 94,000 crore during 2021-22 fiscal which is amply clear that the government misappropriated the funds.

The CAG pointed out various lapses after going through the State budget for the last nine months. It was also pointed out that the regulations in the Andhra Pradesh Financial Code were also violated.

Several thousands of crores have been allocated to various departments but they were not spent for that purpose. The government should come out with clarifications how much was allocated as per the budget, how much was spent and whether there was revenue deficit. The CAG pointed out that the government spent Rs 94,399 crore in 124 items without any budgetary allocation.

The CAG report also pointed out that in 947 items, the government spent 13,398.71 crore over and above budget allocations. However, the government did not spend Rs 30,327 crore though it was proposed for allocation to various departments.

Dr Sailajanath said that the government raised loans worth Rs 3,250 crore during last December from the market and acquired loans of Rs 81.11 crore from the Centre. During the same month, it had repaid the old loans to the Centre but did not repay loans to the market.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was playing fiddle in the palace without taking any remedial measures, he said.