Hyderabad: The Telugu Desam government took two important decisions with regard to decisions taken by former Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy government before the general elections. It has ordered all departments to freeze payments for work undertaken under Special Development Fund (SDF).
Former chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy had created SDF with Rs 600 crore in the financial year 2013-14. The funds under this scheme were released at the discretion of the chief minister and without any administrative sanction or technical clearance from the concerned departments for undertaking the work.
Under this scheme, in Kiran Kumar Reddy’s own Assembly segment Pileru, work worth more than Rs 100 crore was sanctioned within a span of 15 days. In Seemandhra, the government owes contractors nearly Rs 250 crore for work done in many Assembly constituencies. However, the TD government has decided to freeze payments to the contractors for work done under SDF and will issue orders to this effect.
Earlier, the state government had issued circulars to stop all projects undertaken six months before the general elections which has now been revised to nine months prior to elections. The TD government has constituted a Cabinet sub-committee comprising finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, health minister K. Srinivas, labour minister K. Atchannaidu and information minister Palle Raghunath Reddy to examine the decisions of the previous Congress government.
Based on the Cabinet sub-committee’s recommendations the government will take a final call on various allotments of land, mine leases and other actions initiated by the Congress government.
The irrigation, roads and building, as also some other departments are facing embarrassment due to the government’s decision. One senior IAS officer said that in his 25 years of service he has never seen any government take such a decision. He said that it is common to review the decisions taken by the previous government one month prior to the new government and added that if ongoing projects are stopped, the contractors may seek penalty from the government.
When asked about the government's decision, finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said that it is common for a new government to do so.
