Contractors executing public works for the government are up in arms against the delay in settling their bills which have mounted to ₹3,900 crore and are planning to boycott works from January.
Of the ₹3,900-crore arrears, ₹2,000 crore pertains to roads and building works of the Public Works Department; ₹1,050 crore for Local Self-Government Department (LSGD); ₹500 crore for Kerala Water Authority; ₹100 crore each for works of the Harbour Engineering Department, Irrigation Department, and MLA Local Area Development; and ₹50 crore for flood relief.
Delay of seven months
The bills for the works completed by government contractors are pending for the last seven months in the offices across the State and treasury, while in other departments such as PWD and Irrigation it is one year, All Kerala Government Contractors Association general secretary Sunny Chinnakara told The Hindu.
The worst-hit due to the inordinate delay in settling the bills were the small and medium government contractors. Hundreds of families in which the government contractor was the sole earning member were in dire straits, he said.
Capability certificate
The decision of the PWD to insist on capability certificate from the banks for the A, B and C class contractors and asking the contractors executing works below ₹1 crore to procure bitumen directly from the oil majors had caused undue hardship.
Banks were charging ₹20,000 to ₹50,000 as service charge for issuing capability certificate of ₹1 crore for A class contractors. Unless the certificate was produced, he said the PWD would not renew the three-year mandatory licence for the contractor.
The association petitioned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his Cabinet colleagues and all the legislators to settle the bills at the earliest.
The association also decided to organise a day-long protest in front of the Secretariat on December 27. The contractors will organise protest marches in all taluk headquarters on Friday.
If the government failed to take steps to settle the pending arrears, the contractors would stop works from January 2020, the general secretary said.
