Hyderabad: Peeved GHMC contractors hit pause button on works

Charminar: Upset over the non-payment of dues, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) general contractors of Charminar zone stopped all the civic works. They claim that they have not received their payment for the last 6 months.

Except for a few emergency works, all the ongoing civic projects in GHMC Charminar zone, including the laying of concrete cement, VDCC roads, SW drains, box drains, renovation of footpaths, and desilting of drains and nalas, have come to a standstill after GHMC general contractors called for a halt, demanding that the government clear their long-pending bills.

Recently, around 70 general contractors led by Srikant Reddy held demonstrations at GHMC Charminar zone office and also submitted a representation to the Charminar Joint commissioner. "''The last payment we contractors received was on January 29, 2021, since then no single due has been cleared and each contractor has pending bills of various maintenance works and projects amounting to several crores of rupees for the last 6 months," said Srikant Reddy.

If the dues are not paid, dealers of cement, steel, hardware, sanitary, paints and electrical appliances etc would stop supplying material. "We have to pay financiers, suppliers, workers and labourers. Where will we get the money from?", he rued.

The payments which were cleared in the month of January were the bills from last year's August. The works are being executed and completed on time, but the contractors are receiving their payments after 6 months. "It has been more than 6 months that we have not received any single bill payment from the GHMC," said Moiz.

"We have been executing the works in GHMC for many years to the maximum satisfaction of the authorities. After the execution of works to the extent of several crores of rupees, GHMC authorities are not making payments since January 30, to till date which is around Rs 680 crores in entire GHMC limits. Hence we are not able to take up further works and have stopped our maintenance works and projects under Charminar zone and we started proteste from July 26," said M A Majid, another contractor.

The contractors alleged that the State government was promptly releasing funds for private agencies undertaking the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) and Comprehensive Road Maintenance Programme (CRMP). "The government is giving us small contracts and pending our bills for months."

We request the authorities to clear the pending dues for the works which have been completed over the last six months. "We have already submitted bills for the works we had done. They were audited and also approved, but we still have not received the payment. The officials stated that they would pay us as and when they receive funds," said Sai, another contractor.