GHMC recovers Rs 6.83 crore after duplicate payment discrepancies to contractors

GHMC has detected duplicate and excess payment discrepancies involving Rs 6.92 crore across 78 ERP invoices for contractors. Commissioner R.V. Karnan said Rs 6.83 crore has already been recovered, while the Vigilance Wing and other authorities continue their enquiries

Hyderabad: A financial irregularity involving alleged duplicate payments worth crores to contractors for civil works and road repairs has surfaced in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

The discrepancies came to light after the GHMC Vigilance Wing submitted a detailed report containing evidence of duplicate payments made to civic contractors.

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According to GHMC sources, contractors received payments through the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS), a digital platform used by the civic body to clear pending bills. Over the past few years, GHMC has used the TReDS facility alongside direct government releases to settle arrears for infrastructure projects, including flyovers, road repairs and waste management works.

Contractors could draw funds through the TReDS platform for emergency requirements, such as medical needs and marriages, with the amounts later debited from their final payouts.

Following the trifurcation of the erstwhile GHMC, the platform’s operating agency updated its software but allegedly failed to properly reconcile amounts drawn for emergency purposes. The discrepancy emerged during the mapping of contractors’ works and payments.

Following the detection of the discrepancies, GHMC Commissioner R.V. Karnan issued an official statement clarifying the facts. He said the preliminary vigilance enquiry report was submitted on August 28, 2026.

Karnan said discrepancies were identified across 78 ERP invoices, involving a total amount of Rs 6,92,11,434. He said media reports claiming that the irregularity involved “over Rs 100 crore” and “more than 200 contractors” were heavily exaggerated and unsupported by official records.

The duplicate and excess payments were detected through GHMC’s own internal processes, including validations in the online payment system during the ERP software upgrade, account segregation and a review conducted by the Additional Commissioner (Finance). The internal detection preceded media reports, Karnan said.

On the recovery status, the Commissioner said Rs 6,83,75,773 relating to 74 invoices had already been recovered. The remaining Rs 8,35,661 relating to four invoices was received through demand drafts and was pending credit to the GHMC General Fund.

The vendors concerned were blocked in the GHMC-ERP system as soon as the discrepancies were flagged, and recovery was initiated through formal demands, he said.

The matter was formally referred to the Vigilance Wing for a comprehensive enquiry on July 27, 2026.

Karnan said the TReDS platform providers admitted that their blockchain-based duplicate-detection systems had failed to block identical invoices uploaded both on a single platform and across multiple platforms.

He cautioned that if the ongoing departmental enquiry or special audit establishes mala fides or criminal intent, criminal action would follow and GHMC would not hesitate to pursue the matter.