Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Contractors Coordination Committee-an amalgam of contractors undertaking government works in the state Tuesday locked Chief Engineer offices of R&B, I&FC, UEED, PMGSY at Raj Bagh Srinagar. The protesting contractors asked Government to clear their liabilities executed by them from past one year.
“There is a huge liability pegged at around Rs 1100 crore in every division and the contractors are not in a position to liquidate their loans. Liabilities of the contractors across the Valley have piled up and they are suffering unnecessarily,” president JKCCC Ghulam Jeelani Purza told CNS and appealed the Government to address the problem.
He said the Government owes them Rs 3,600 crore on account of work done under SDRF alone. Last year after PDP-BJP alliance took over they directed us to undertake macadamization of roads in cities and town for which they owe us further Rs 1100 crore, Purza explained, adding that the Government also owes Rs 100 crore to contractors under Projectisation Plan.
Purza said that contractors in Kashmir are facing tough time. It is very difficult for us to manage our day to day affairs due to non-payment by the government, he said, adding that after floods the Government had asked them to undertake repair of roads and bridges which had been washed away by the floods and within no time the contractors undertook construction activities and restored communication links.
But in return, we have been let down by the Government which has failed to release our payment amounting to Rs 3,600 crore under SDRF. The Government ordered macadamization under Cities and Towns but after black-topping almost all the roadways in Kashmir, there is no payment, he said.
Purza stated that the then Minister for Roads and Buildings, Syed Altaf Bukhari had assured them that the Government would release payment under Cities and Towns before December 2015. But that promise has also not been fulfilled.
When contacted Public Works Minister Abdul Rehman Veeray told CNS that due to some technicalities Government could not release the payment. But I assure them within days they would get their due payments, the minister said. (CNS)
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