Govt . owes Rs.500 crore Liabilities to contractors(Urdu and photo attached)
Due to strict regulations half of the amount earmarked for construction likely lapse// JKCCCC
Srinagar ,March 21: Central Contractors Coordination Committee(JKCCCC), has termed non-payment of Rs. 500 crore as the biggest hurdle in the construction work. During a press conference at his office in Srinagar, General Secretary of the Central Contractors Coordination Committee, Farooq Ahmad Dar, expressed deep disappointment that even during the recent budget, there was no presentation on contractors’ dues and no progress has been made. He said that after the previous governments, the governor’s administration had also assured about the payment of these dues but nothing was seen on the ground level
“If construction and development works are slow,The biggest reason is non-payment of contractors’ dues, ”he said, adding that the budget had disappointed them as they hoped that this time the central and state governments would take historic steps to pay dues.
Dar said that the government’s announcement of development works was a dream come true and asked how the contractors would invest in new works when their dues were not paid.
“There is also a liability of around Rs. 500 crore, as a result of which the contractors are facing severe difficulties” He said
Dar termed Single tender a burden for Govt exchequer , which it will not be able to bear in the days to come. He expressed surprise that when local contractors are not given a chance to work, How they will be able to participate in big tenders. Citing an example, Dar said that the tender for drainage of Rs. 18 crore in Hamdania Colony in Srinagar has cost Rs. 150,000 per pipe, while in small tenders the price of a similar pipe has been fixed at Rs. 26,000. He said that Rs 8 crore could have been saved from the tender of Rs 18 crore, which would have been spent on some other development work.
Dar further said that technical experts are not consulted. “Such regulations are made to give a chance to the people who are approved and even mutual cooperation cannot be ruled out” He said. Arshid Ahmed Bhat, Secretary, Central Contractors Coordination Committee, Umar Javed, Ishfaq Ahmed Khan and others were also present at the press conference.