THE government treasuries in Jammu and Kashmir have dried up and bills worth hundreds of crores are pending for payments.
The drying up of treasuries in the Union Territory is essentially attributed to the unsolicited delay in the release of the allocated plan. The first installment usually comes to the UT government in the month of May. It is believed that just 20 % to 30 % of the first installment which was due in the month of May, has been released due to which the liabilities are shooting. Developmental projects, however, are executed by the contractors out of their own kitty. The LG administration is particular about deadlines of each project and the executing agencies somehow manage the pace of work. But if the situation remains the same for a little more time, the projects could witness stagnation. On the other hand, many government departments find it difficult to manage the salaries of their employees. So much so, the police department is not able to pay the salaries on time to its workforce of more than 1.25 lakh. The delay in disbursement of salaries causes inconvenience to the government workforce.
It is believed that salaries and other expenditure are managed through local receipts to a great extent. The newly-constituted divisions under the Works Department (R&B) are without drawing and disbursing powers. Even the code to upload the bills on the BEAMS portal has not been allotted to the newly constituted divisions and contractors are clueless about the payments for the works undertaken under the jurisdiction of their respective, newly-constituted divisions.
It has become even more difficult for the Finance and Planning Department to manage the financial health in the Union Territory. There is some kind of uncertainty and it is incumbent upon the LG administration to prevail upon the Central government and get the plan released.
