Contractors in the state are restless and frustrated after the Hemant Soren government stopped all payments against civic work across Jharkhand citing an empty treasury and anomalies in awarding contracts and payments by the previous government.
A delegation of the Jharkhand Rajya Samvedak Sangh, which with more than 700 members is one of the biggest organisations of contractors in the state, on Wednesday sought an appointment with the chief minister to apprise him of their angst.
“The chief minister was not available at his office but we have requested officials of the CM secretariat to fix an appointment with the CM for five minutes. We want to request him to look into our problems,” said Ajay Raj Singh, president of the outfit.
He said that payments to contractors have been stopped for the last three months.
“Payment of contractors across Jharkhand worth over Rs 2,000 crore have been stopped and we have been facing problems for the past three months. This is the situation of every department. We were said that payments have been stopped on technical grounds because the government has ordered an inquiry into tenders and payments approved during previous governments because such cases have come to light where contractors were paid without doing any work and in some cases payments were made without any approval,” said Singh.
One of the contractors, who requested anonymity, said that he had been running from pillar to the post to get Rs 80 lakh for work he had done.
“I was awarded contracts for three construction works. I completed one project for which payment has not been made. I have stopped construction work of the rest of the projects because the government is neither clearing previous bills nor making any advance payment. I had borrowed money from the market and I am under pressure to return the money. Not only contractors but labourers are also suffering,” said the contractor.
A week back contractors had also met state rural development minister Alamgir Alam.
Asked what they expect from the government, Samvedak Sangh president Singh said: “All of us are small and medium-sized contractors and we are the worst sufferers. If some big contractors and companies are involved in any scam, let the government investigate and punish. But there should be option for partial payment so that we don’t face problems and pending projects are also completed.”
On December 24 last year, chief secretary D.K. Tiwari had directed all departments not to issue any payment for any civil work till the new government was formed. The order was not lifted after the new government took charge.
Right from big projects like the Kantatoli flyover and Rabindra Bhavan in the capital to construction of sewerage networks have been affected due to the no-payment order.
“For the past three months I have been sitting at home,” Arun Kumar, a contractor, said on Wednesday.
“First due to the model code of conduct and later due to the order of the government I have neither money nor any work. I have asked my permanent labourers to find work somewhere else till the situation becomes smooth. Every year during Holi I used give them bonus, but this year we will have a colourless Holi.”