Contractors working for the GHMC have gone into protest mode demanding payment of the long-pending dues from the corporation for the works completed.
On Friday, the contractors staged a demonstration in front of the GHMC headquarters under the banner of GHMC Contractors’ Association and issued an ultimatum that the works would be stopped henceforth, if payments were not made immediately.
The association claimed that about ₹550 crore payments were pending from the GHMC for various works taken up by the contractors, including laying of BT & CC roads, patch works, de-silting of drains, and works pertaining to Bonalu and Ganesh immersion festivities.
Of the dues, ₹210 crore pertain to March this year, which are yet to be paid, even while the dues of April, May and June have been settled, general secretary of the association Hanumanth Sagar said.
“Dues should be settled based on the seniority of works, but here, payments are being made based on the whims of the officials. Bills submitted in March belong to works done in December/January, and they made the contractors concerned wait for nine whole months without payments, even while paying for works done much later,” Mr. Sagar said.
Since June 18 up to September, ₹340 crore more are pending for payment, he said, and threatened to go on strike after Deepavali if payments were not made immediately.
“Government has money to pay for SRDP contractors, CRMP contractors, and Solid Waste Management concessionaire agency, but makes us smaller contractors wait endlessly. They don’t even pay interest over the dues even after such a long wait,” Mr. Sagar complained.
