The 4,600-odd contractors in the State have decided to boycott works from August in protest against the government’s apathy towards their demands, including the delay in settling bills which have mounted to the tune of Rs.2,500 crore.
Since June 1, the contractors have been boycotting tenders floated for various works across the State, to put pressure on the government to settle their bills.
Financial crisis is learnt to be the reason for the delay in settling the bills.
Although the arrears for the bills in September 2013 have been cleared, the intimation has not reached treasuries in many districts.
The decision to boycott the works from August has been taken after a high-level meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy here on July 17 failed to take a decision on settling the bills.
All Kerala Government Contractors’ Association general secretary P. Viswanathan said on Monday that the government had been informed of the decision to boycott works from August 1.
“Finance Minister K.M. Mani is non-committal on clearing the arrears and we have no other option but to boycott works,” he said.
Of the Rs.2,500-crore arrears due to the contractors for the October 2013-July 2014 period, Rs.1,800 crore pertains to road works and the remaining Rs.700 crore for building and irrigation works.
The contractors demanded at least half of the dues before Onam, rollback of the decision to collect 14.5 per cent purchase tax along with compounding fee, and implementing the revised PWD manual to withdraw the boycott.
The association pointed out that the additional tax to be levied from the contractors would only lead to corruption.
As per the revised PWD manual, the bills should be settled within one month.
