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Contractors to resume work after minister assures partial payment of dues
As per the discussions, apart from existing Rs 19,000 crore for road and bridge construction as well as repair works of government buildings, an additional provision of Rs 9,000 crore has been made.
Public Works Department (PWD) minister Shivendraraje Bhosle (Source: MyNeta)
The striking contractors of Maharashtra will resume work from Monday following a meeting with state’s Public Works Department (PWD) minister Shivendraraje Bhosle on Sunday, where the government has agreed to allocate additional Rs 9,000 crore to clear their pending dues. The call to “shut down” was given owing to pending dues worth Rs 96,000 crore over several years.
Milind Bhosle, president of the contractors’ body, said, “Minister holding a meeting is a positive start for us. We have decided to call off our decision to shut down and expect that the government will give us our pending dues soon,” he said.
As per the discussions, apart from existing Rs 19,000 crore for road and bridge construction as well as repair works of government buildings, an additional provision of Rs 9,000 crore has been made.
It was also accepted to give extension to all ongoing and incomplete projects until March 2027 without any conditions, accounting for price hikes in bitumen and other materials.
On March 9, the Maharashtra State Contractors Federation and the State Engineers Association had announced that if contractors’ payments were not cleared by March 31, 2026, all Public Works Department (PWD) projects in the state would be halted from April 7, 2026. Accordingly, work across the state was suspended starting April 7. Works in almost 22 districts was stopped in last several days since then.
Consequently, the PWD minister held a meeting on Sunday with a delegation representing the contractors. It was also agreed to provide Rs 1,200 crore for works related to construction and repair of government housing. Instructions will be issued to superintending engineers to reserve a portion of the received government funds specifically for the payments of Educated Unemployed Engineers and Criteria for registration renewal for open contractors, including “work done” and “work in hand” requirements, will be relaxed. Revised district schedule of rates will be issued soon.
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