Contractors to govt: Can’t continue work if bills worth Rs 20,000 crore not cleared

“We have been communicating with the state government about non-payment our bills. Bills worth over Rs 25,000 crore were pending out of which around 25 per cent was paid after Diwali and that too after sending over five reminders.

It will be impossible for contractors to continue with the work unless we are paid our dues,” Milind Bhosle, president of Maharashtra State Contractors Association said on Monday.

According to contractors’ association, the bills of road contracts from state’s Public Works Department and Rural Development Department are pending.

The association had earlier warned “stop work” agitation from November 27 bringing all road construction works in the state to standstill.

“The government somehow managed to release 25 per cent of the pending amount. Hence we have decided to give three weeks’ time to the state government to ensure that we get our dues,” said Bhosle.

According to sources within the PWD, a meeting between the representatives of the contractors and ministers and senior officials of PWD and rural development departments has been organised during the winter session of the state legislature to be held in Nagpur from December 7.

“We have sought money from the Finance Department in the supplementary demands which will be tabled in the winter session. Based on that, the payments will be made to contractors,” said a senior official from the PWD.

Bhosle added that the association had demanded to release the amount before Diwali but it was delayed even then.

“We have given a statewide call to contractors to gather at Nagpur where we will be finalising our next move based on supplementary demands of the state government,” he said.