Hyderabad: The state government would close about 28,000 personal deposit accounts (PDAs) opened by various departments in which over Rs 10,000 crore is lying unused for the past few years.
A scrutiny done by the finance department has revealed that the departments had opened the accounts in violation of norms. With the state government facing a funds crunch due to the Coronavirus-induced financial crisis, the finance department is exploring all the options to mobilise funds ahead of Budget 2021-22.
The scrutiny found that TS government tops the country in having the highest number of PD accounts at 28,087 in which Rs 10,873 crore is lying unused. Though there are other states with higher PD accounts, they stand nowhere nearer to Telangana state. The other states with higher PD accounts include Odisha (827), Gujarat (478), Tamil Nadu (201), West Bengal (153) and Haryana (124).
On the one hand, the state government is borrowing at an average interest rate of 7.40 per…