The Hindu        24.03.2014 

Civil works may suffer as contractors threaten strike

Civil works including the re-laying of roads and
reconstruction of drains in Kochi and adjoining areas may come to a
standstill as contractors have threatened to boycott the works. It’s the
burgeoning arrears that have prompted the over 25,000-odd-contractors
across the State to raise the banner of agitation. Organisations of
contractors have demanded immediate steps for clearing the pending
bills.

“If the governments, including the local
bodies, fail to clear the bills, no new works will be taken up during
the next fiscal,” said M. Mohamed, Ernakulam district secretary of the
All Kerala Government Contractors’ Association.

The
contractors complained that the government owed them around Rs.500 crore
in the district alone. “As the contractors are running short of funds,
they won’t be able to take up any new civil works until the pending
bills are cleared,” he said.

The Kochi Corporation
owed its contractors around Rs. 50 crore, the highest unpaid amount in
the recent times, said M.R. Chandran Pillai, State president of the LSGD
Contractors Federation.

The local body had cleared
some dues recently after raising Rs.10 crore as over draft from a local
bank. It has offered to clear some pending bills after the culmination
of the intensive tax collection. The contractors might resort to boycott
of works in the city if the local body failed to clear the pending
bills within a fortnight, Mr. Chandran Pillai said.

Barring
a few local bodies such as Kalamassery Municipality, the bills of
completed civic works are pending in most of the local bodies in the
State. “If the local bodies refuse to clear the arrears, the contractors
will go in for a strike after the first week of April,” said Mr.
Chandran Pillai.

With the March 31 deadline fast
approaching, the local bodies are on a spending spree to complete works
and clear the bills of works implemented using its own funds.

Besides
the work of civic bodies that have been hit due to the paucity of
funds, the scarcity of red earth has also affected the construction of
houses and other buildings in the district. The district administration
was not issuing permits for obtaining red earth used to fill the
foundation of buildings. The government-imposed restriction had affected
the commoners too, he said.

At the same time, B.
Bhadra, Deputy Mayor of Kochi Corporation, said the local body had
started clearing the pending bills of contractors. The process for
preparing the bills for payment of money for contractors started a few
days ago in the local body, she said.