Citing dues worth nearly ₹100 crore, the Cochin Corporation Contractor’s Association will go on an indefinite strike from Monday, halting work undertaken by the civic administration.
Payments for completed work have not been made to contractors for the past 35 months, from September 2017 onwards, said a statement issued by the association. Repeated entreaties to the corporation and the State government to release their dues have gone in vain, and most contractors are left with little finances of their own to continue work, the statement added. The government owes around ₹30 crore to contractors for work taken up under the Plan Fund.
“Contractors have not been able to bear the burden of paying for material and equipment, as well as handing out salaries to workers. Some bills from cleaning of drains and canals from 2018 onwards have not even been prepared,” said K.A. David, secretary of the association. “Going by our agreements with the corporation, payments are to be made within three months of completing the work, which is laughable considering the pending bills now,” he added.
The association squarely blamed the corporation’s five-year-long inefficiency for their plight.
Work on widening some canals, besides laying slabs and some road and walkway work, will now be halted, Mr. David said.
The corporation was set to take a loan and pay contractors ₹10 crore a few months ago, but the government’s sanction for the loan is still pending, said Deputy Mayor K.R. Premakumar. The association had withdrawn another strike in December last year when the ₹10 crore worth of dues was promised to them.
“The pending bills that have been prepared amount to only ₹41 crore. Bills for some work might not have been prepared yet. In May this year, the corporation had paid ₹4.2 crore worth of bills from August 2017 to contractors. Attempts will be made to pay some dues now. With the pandemic, the corporation’s revenue has nosedived, making even monthly payment of salaries difficult,” Mr. Premakumar said.
