VIJAYAWADA: The State government on Tuesday informed the Andhra Pradesh High Court that it will deposit Rs756 crore in the accounts of the gram panchayats towards payment of pending dues to the MGNREGS contractors in a week.
When the petitions filed by contractors seeking release of pending MGNREGS bills came up for hearing before the bench of Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice N Jayasurya, the government said it would pay Rs756 crore pending towards payment of bills for more than Rs5 lakh amount NREGS works executed by the contractors.
The government said that it received Rs571 crore from the Centre for payment towards the works executed and it would add its share of Rs185 crore. The government informed the bench that of the Rs1,117 crore dues pending, Rs756 crore will be paid in a week and the remaining Rs361 crore will be paid once the Centre releases the funds.
The bench asked the government to file an affidavit on the steps taken to pay the pending dues to the contractors and mention if the contractors, who executed the works, have received the payments or not. The matter was posted for further hearing to September 22.
Principal Secretary (Panchayat raj) Gopala Krishna Dwivedi and principal secretary (finance) SS Rawat personally appeared before the court while commissioner (panchayat raj) Girija Shankar sought exemption from personal appearance.Special Government Pleader C Suman informed the bench that the government made payments to contractors who have executed works below Rs5 lakh.