Thiruvananthapuram: Bills worth Rs 20 crore pending at Treasury department

Thiruvananthapuram: Non-release of funds by the treasury department has landed the City Corporation in a fix.

The last-minute effort of the civic authorities to increase the plan fund utilization has down the drain with the treasury department refusing to clear the bills worth Rs 20 crores submitted by the Corporation.

According to officials, the treasury department is refusing to take bills more than Rs 20 lakh. This year the LDF led ruling front wanted to cross the fund utilization by 80 percent. Currently, the civic body could use only around 30 percent of the funds.

An official said that this has come us a huge blow to the civic body. "We had submitted a lot of bills. We hope the treasury will clear the bills atleast by tomorrow. The utilization of the plan fund is much higher than in previous years. Many projects didn't take off because of the delay in getting a technical sanction," said the official.

The state government has recently introduced a rule restricting the anticipatory release of funds.