With the deadline to complete all G20-related infrastructure and revamp projects days away, work on sprucing up key stretches in the capital may be hampered. The reason: contractors under the Public Works Department (PWD) have threatened to stop work if their pending dues are not cleared by Saturday. The Delhi government has said that payments are under process and will be made soon. According to a contractor who did not wish to be named, “Our payments have been stuck for the last eight months. We have been raising the matter with officials and even the (PWD) minister for several months. For how many months can we buy materials on loan? How are we supposed to pay labourers and staff and finish work in time?” “We will wait till tomorrow. If our payments are not cleared, we will boycott ongoing work,” said another contractor and member of CPWD Contractors Association. The association also appealed to contractors working on other PWD projects to boycott work if their payments are not cleared. Another association member said that earlier, several contractors had individually raised the matter with their engineer in-charge, executive engineers and senior officials, but when the issue was still not resolved, they approached the association. “We first raised this matter with the engineer-in-chief and secretary-level officials to release our pending payments. They said they would resolve the matter as soon as possible, but to no avail. On August 1, we wrote to the minister and sought an appointment to meet her, but there was response. On August 11, we issued a reminder that if they don’t release payments, we will go on a strike and boycott ongoing work,” said the contractor. Surinder Singh, a civil road repairing and maintenance contractor, said he has a pending payment amounting to Rs 15-16 crore: “I have a de-silting contract for the entire Najafgarh division. We have dumpers, maintenance vans, hundreds of workers and contractors who need at least Rs 1 to Rs 2 lakh a day to execute work. Our workers worked all night without any sleep during the flood. Now, they are not releasing our funds.” The association said there are 1,100 contractors registered with them and 300-400 contractors working on different projects of the PWD are facing problems.
