LUCKNOW, April 1 -- With the state government allowing its departments to submit bills until March 31-the last day of the 2025-26 financial year-various departments rushed to the treasuries here on Tuesday to get payments for works. The decision to allow the departments to submit their bills till the last day of financial year was taken in view of increased work pressure on drawing and disbursing officers in the month of March. It was more than usual business in treasury offices both at the collectorate and the one at the back side of Jawahar Bhawan. Chief treasury officer Sadhana Kori, who sits at the collectorate office, said, "Various departments have submitted 1497 bills and amount to the tune of Rs 2,380 crore have been cleared as of now. We have 70 staff and for one week they have been working almost 10 hours a day. Things have improved a lot with online billing and bill submission. Also, from time to time, the government asks for fund utilisation. In the backdrop of all these, I can see that things are quite okay these days. March 31 is little more than usual business." Another chief treasury officer Anand Kumar, who sits at the office at the backside of Jawahar Bhawan, said, "Earlier, we used to struggle a lot because most of the things were manual. Now online things have made life much easier. As a CTO, our job is to pass the bills. We have 30 staff in this office." However, he said that he cannot give any estimate of amount cleared by his office. "Keeping the departments' problems in mind, I was asked to convey that all drawing and disbursing officers may submit their bills to the treasuries by March 31. This will ensure that treasuries make e-payments for the bills passed in the 2025-26 financial year," an official said. Earlier, the state government had asked the departments to issue all the financial sanctions by March 15 and ensure that the bills were submitted to treasuries for payment by March 25....