Imphal, July 8: Construction of roads and buildings under the Manipur government?s works department came to a grinding halt today, following a strike by contractors registered under the PWD.
The strike, called by the All Manipur Public Works Contractors Association, was called in support of a demand for clearance of outstanding bills amounting to more than Rs 110 crore for work already completed.
This has put a full stop to major ongoing construction activities in the state.
The strike affected construction of the mini-secretariat buildings in the district headquarters, the capital project and road and bridge repairs on state highways.
The capital project comprises construction of high court buildings, state secretariat building and the Assembly secretariat in Imphal.
Construction of government quarters has also been suspended, the contractors? association informed mediapersons.
Works minister Govindas Konthoujam described the suspension of development works as ?unfortunate?.
Inaugurating a new road at Keikhu in Imphal East district this morning, the minister appealed to the contractors to resume construction in the public interest.
?I have consulted chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh to find a means to clear the outstanding bills. The government would tap all available resources to clear the bills. The contractors should call off the agitation and resume work,? the minister said.
Rejecting the minister?s appeal, vice-president of the contractors? association, L. Debeshwar, said it had served an ultimatum to the government. Yesterday was its deadline for clearing outstanding bills. The government has not responded positively to our pleas yet, he said.
Other demands raised by the contractors include withdrawal of ?unauthorised? payments to Hudco and restricting the number of work orders to a single contractor to not more than three contracts at a time. They also sought open tenders for works.
The contractors? organisation also accused a section of the department?s engineers of favouritism while issuing cheques.