Contractors call off fast

PUNE, Sept 17: Three contractors of the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC), who had been on an indefinite hunger ...

PUNE, Sept 17: Three contractors of the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC), who had been on an indefinite hunger strike for the past four days demanding payment of long-pending bills, called off their agitation today following a verbal assurance by MKVDC executive director A.P. Bhave that Rs. 470 crore will be released by September end.

Mahendra Satav, Shankarrao Takawale and Appa Biramane had launched hunger strike from September 14. The strike was the first visible sign of discontent against the Manohar Joshi government, which had assured an uninterrupted flow of funds for the Krishna projects. The contractors had pressed not only pending payments but also sought prior arrangement for the forthcoming year to avoid delays in the project.

Three associates from Solapur Pravin Dongre, Rajiv Dube Patil and Vijayatai Lolage had joined the hunger strike today. Bhave also assured them that the MKVDC would complete the canal works. He was reacting to allegations that the Government was deliberately delaying work on canals and according priority to dams to browbeat the contractors into submission and stop them from resorting to agitations.

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Bhave admitted that the total outstanding bills amounted to Rs 588 crore. He claimed that Rs 12 crore had been made available and would be used to settle the contractors’ dues. He disclosed that the corporation would issue bonds of Rs 350 crore in a week’s time.

Prolonged discussions were held between Bhave and a nine-member delegation from the afternoon. Satav told reporters that the contractors had called off the agitation on the assurance by political leaders that they would continue the agitation on behalf of contractors if their demands were not met. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Anna Joshi, Congress MLA R.R. Patil, MP Sadashiv Mandalik, B. Patil, Baburao Pachpute, Sukhdev Sonawane of the Dalit Panther, Baba Adhav, Sandeep Khardekar of Patit Pawan Sanghatana and Prataprao Bhosale had met the striking contractors and urged them to call off the fast.

The MKVDC has got Rs. 230 crore from the Government. It expects Rs. 200 crore from the Maharashtra Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) and Rs. 40 crore pending with them. Bhave said Rs. 470 crore would be given by October 1. He said bills of Rs. 1 crore were already being paid and bills of Rs. 5 crore would be paid by September 25.

Congress MLA R.R. Patil has threatened an agitation if the demands of the contractors are not met. Accusing the BJP-Shiv Sena government of not keeping its word, he said the Government was to pay Rs. 700 crore to the project in 1996-97 but paid only Rs. 225 crore.

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During 1997-98, the government allocation was Rs. 700 crore. The Government even failed to pay interest on the bonds, he said. Not a single paisa was allocated for the project this year, he alleged.

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