Finance Minister Eatala Rajender vents anger at contractors

Karimnagar: Finance Minister Eatala Rajender on Thursday gave vent to his impatience against the contractors for not cooperating with the government in execution of double-bedroom houses in the district. Except in constituencies represented by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, IT Minister K T Rama Rao, Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao and R&B Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, the execution of the house construction took a backseat, the minister said.

The contractors were not responding to the bids called by the government, he said, urging them to work with no-profit motive. He was addressing the contractors on execution of double-bedroom houses in the district. He said it was not proper on the part of the contractors not to cooperate with the government in execution of the most prestigious programme.

He said that he was not insisting the contractors to execute works sustaining losses. But, he wanted them to work on the project without any profit motive and urged them to cut costs. Contractors had been invited to place bids on several occasions, but they chose not to respond, which was painful, the Minister said.

Going a step further, the Minister said it was a good opportunity for masons and welcomed them to execute works as the government would have no objection to entrust the works to them. In fact, the government had been issuing statements on double bedroom houses for the past two years.

But, the construction commenced nowhere because of cold response from the contractors. The Minister pointed out that the villagers were confronting them with questions as to when would the government begin construction of houses.

He asked the contractors to think it over and give their feedback on how they would cooperate with the government on the issue. Local legislator Gangula Kamalakar, Irrigation Development Board Chairman Eeda Sankar Reddy, MLC Naradasu Lakshman Rao and others took part in the meeting.

By Ch Gopalakrishna