Maharashtra PWD minister seeks Rs 10,000 cr to clear pending dues of contractors

According to the PWD department, around Rs 18,000 crore is needed in the current fiscal to sort out the issues of the contractors.

Contractors in the state have gone on strike from February 5, stopping all ongoing infrastructure works alleging that payments worth Rs 89,000 crore from different departments have allegedly not been paid since July 2024.

Among the alleged Rs 89,000 crore dues of the contractors include Rs 46,000 crore from the PWD, Rs 18,000 crore from the Jal Jeevan Mission under Water Supply and Sanitation department, Rs 8,600 crore from the Rural development department, Rs 19,700 crore from the Irrigation department and Rs 1,700 crore from the works done under DPDC, MLA fund and MP fund.

Bhosle accepted that there are certain issues regarding the payment to contractors.
“However, the dues are not from the past one year alone. Some dues are from the previous years as well,” he said, adding that major chunk of payments is of road and bridge works.

“These are district-level works where small contractors are suffering. We understand their problems and we are working towards solving those,” Bhosle said, adding that total of around Rs 18,000 crore is needed in the ongoing fiscal.

The minister, when asked about large number of work orders issued in the poll year, said, “Now, it was an election year and the works orders were issued in greater numbers. But we are sure that it will be sorted out.”