A week after the Andhra Pradesh government stepped up its austerity drive and restricted the expenses of bureaucrats, ministers and legislators, it has recommended a 10 per cent reduction in expenses across all its ministerial departments.
According to a report in the Times of India, the finance department has listed out guidelines to be followed by all departments, adding that this would save Rs 7,000 crore over the next one year.
"We have inherited a deficit state and at the same time loss of the capital city has proved too costly as most of the revenues are generated from Hyderabad. We are now focused on reducing expenditure and improving revenues without imposing new taxes," principal secretary, finance, PV Ramesh told the newspaper.
This comes a week after the state put certain restrictions on foreign trips by officers, ministers and legislators, a ban on business class travel, a ceiling on hotel expenses and use of fancy cars for official trips.
The state just organized a massive ceremony worth crores of rupees for laying the foundation stone of its new capital 'Amaravati' and has also faced criticism for hiking the salary of all government employees.
The finance department has asked all departments to propose budget estimates and have been asked to pay electricity, water and rent bills of government offices in time and have been warned that penalties for delays will be collected from the concerned officials, the TOI report adds.