Contractors demand pending liabilities

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Mar 18: Aggrieved by the Government’s failure to release their pending liabilities for a protracted period, a large group of contractors staged a protest demonstration in front of PWD office today.
They shouted for resignation of Works Minister Th Biswajit and Finance Minister Y Joykumar.
With a view to pay out pending liabilities of contractors who executed different projects/works under PWD during the current financial year, Finance Department earmarked a sum of around Rs 170 crore in the State budget.
Against the sum of Rs 170 crore earmarked in the budget, Finance Department released Rs 90 crore––Rs 45 crore for hills and Rs 45 crore for the valley.
Even if the Finance Department had released the whole amount of Rs 170 crore, it would not have been enough to pay even 60 per cent of the contractors’ pending liabilities.
Speaking to media persons at the PWD complex this afternoon, Manipur Hills and Plain Contractors’ Association (MHPCA) general secretary Ksh Rajen said that the contractors have been demanding payment of bills only for those works which have been fully completed.
Following the release of Rs 90 crore, due file process was initiated to pay 30 per cent of the contractors’ pending liabilities.
The PWD Chief Engineer prepared 30 per cent bills and the necessary files were forwarded without any discrimination. But the files are now stuck with two Ministers, Rajen said.
Now it is said that not a single penny is left out of the Rs 90 crore released for payment of contractors’ liabilities, he decried.
When a file of Rs 10 lakh is submitted, 20 per cent of the amount is spent on different expenditures. It is money which moves the files from one table to another. Without money, the files would remain static and dusted, Rajen alleged.
He then asked why the contractors were compelled to make substantial expenditures on processing the files if no money was left to pay the pending liabilities.
He said that contractors have not been paid their liabilities properly or in time since the BJP-led Government was established.
The BJP-led Government’s proud claims of constructing standard roads and bridges are all contributions of contractors, Rajen asserted while urging the Government to pay their pending liabilities at the earliest.
MHPCA joint secretary M Sarat said that the PWD Chief Engineer started sending files to the Minister concerned since February 28 for payment of 30 per cent of pending liabilities but many of the files are still stuck with the Minister.
For those contractors who are close to the Minister, the files sent in the morning were released in the afternoon after due processing, Sarat alleged.
When the files released by a Minister reached another Minister, it was said that no money was available to pay liabilities of contractors listed under the valley head.
Nonetheless, some files were processed and the liabilities paid while the others were returned unprocessed. In another word, money was available for those contractors who were close to the Minister, Sarat alleged.
Aggrieved by such blatant nepotism and favouritism, the contractors have sealed the PWD computer room where the department’s online financial transaction is done.
Further, MHPCA submitted a representation to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat this afternoon seeking immediate intervention of the Chief Minister.