Patna, Aug. 24: The empowered standing committee of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) gave a 10-day deadline to PMC commissioner Divesh Sehara to complete ward development work in its meeting today.

The committee also recommended to the corporation board that a decision be taken to approve 75 per cent of total dues clearance to A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited, the private sanitation providing company, which has been on strike for the past one month as the civic body has not made any payments to it.

The two parties had entered into an agreement in January 2010.

Mayor Afzal Imam said: “Ward development work under three different schemes worth Rs 3.5 lakh, Rs 6.5 lakh and Rs 15 lakh for all 72 wards are pending for the past several months. The works include cleaning, construction, desilting of drains, construction of roads, street lighting and others. We have therefore asked the commissioner to expedite the work and submit a report of the progress 10 days later.”

He added that the date of the corporation board meeting would now be extended by a week, as the board will meet after the officials put the pending work on fast track.

“The board meeting was scheduled for August 28 but the members of the standing committee are of the view that the meeting should be called after the tendering of all the outstanding work is done,” Imam said.

Deputy mayor Vinay Kumar Pappu said the officials were also asked to float tenders for installing hand-pumps in all the wards of the corporation.

Regarding the deadlock over payment to A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited, members of the committee said the contract should be continued but the private firm should also upgrade its services.

“A committee of PMC officials had recommended in an internal report that the company be paid half of the total Rs 7.6 crore as they had fudged the bills and breached several clauses of the agreement. While we recommend that the private firm be paid 75 per cent of the bills till a final decision is taken, the last decision will be taken by the board,” said Pappu.

He added that the committee members were perturbed over the deteriorating civic conditions in the city following the strike by A2Z.

“We want the payment issue to be sorted out soon so that the private company gets down to work. Many prime roads and wards are bearing the brunt of the strike. The civic body does not have resources and manpower to collect garbage. Therefore, we cannot afford to let the strike drag on,” Pappu added.