new delhi the government on wednesday unveiled a raft of measures to ensure availability of cash in the system including speeding up of refunds worth rs 18000 crore linked to income tax returns customs and gst while deciding to prioritise spending on areas like health pharma food rural development railways and aviation the move suggests the centres cash position may be stressed during the first quarter of the current fiscalseparately road transport and highways minister nitin gadkari directed the nhai to release all dues of developers and construction companiesa pileup which was being flagged by companies has affected payments down the line with micro small and medium enterprises expressing concerns about large companies holding back on paymentsauthorities said the income tax department will release all pending refunds of up to rs 5 lakh immediately which will benefit around 14 lakh taxpayersall gst and customs refunds will also be released to around one lakh businesses including msmes the indirect tax wing of the government had gained notoriety for holding back refunds while income tax payments have been streamlined in the last few yearsin a statement the tax department said the steps have been taken due to the covid19 situation in the country with a view to provide immediate relief to business entities and individuals tax revenues are expected to stay muted over the next few months on account of the lockdown which has virtually brought economic activities to a standstillthe expenditure department which is also a part of the finance ministry issued new guidelines on spending as part of the cash management exercise during apriljune this year ministries such as fertilizer defence home roads and petroleum along with the union territories have been asked to limit their spending to 20 of the overall outlay for the current financial year in addition there is a monthly cap of 68 for the first three monthsfor several others such as education labour power coal telecom commerce and heavy industry the limit for the first quarter has been fixed at 15 of the annual outlay with a monthly cap of 5in his meeting with nhai and road ministry officers gadkari sought a roadmap for resumption of activities on a larger scale once the lockdown is lifted he laid greater emphasis on clearing pending payments and giving the pending approvals he has instructed that claims must be settled quickly said an officialthe official said in the past couple of months there has been increased focus on clearing dues for example in march the nhai released about rs 20000 crore and nearly half of it was paid to contractors and concessionairesnearly rs 4000 crore went for repayment of debt another rs 5000 rs 6000 crore was released for land acquisition expenses and the rest was used for payment of dues of private contractors said a source in the past seveneight days the nhai has cleared payments of about rs 6000 crore