Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 22: The contractors associated with the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) Scheme works in the Jammu region today urged the Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha and the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah to clear the pending bills worth hundreds of crores of the contractors who executed work under the scheme during the past few years.
Addressing a press conference here today, the member of J&K PHE Contractors Coordination Committee said that many contractors who executed works under JJM Scheme in the region are demanding payment of their bills already submitted to the concerned authorities few years ago. Despite repeated representations and the meetings with the concerned Executive Engineers, SE and the Chief Engineers besides the concerned Minister and the Administrative Secretary, the bills worth hundreds of crores have remained unpaid.
They pointed out that when the works have been executed and completed by the contractors, there is no purpose of withholding their payments. Many contractors have taken bank loans. They are facing financial crisis. They have to make the payments of material and other components.
They pointed out that for the last over 15 months hundreds of JJM schemes have remained incomplete and suspended, and even many are at the verge of completion. It is not due to fault of contactors but due to administrative failure and financial mismanagement. The Chief Minister must order a high level inquiry and fix the responsibility on the people responsible for it.
“The continuous delay reflects gross negligence and complete apathy on the part of authorities at the helm of affairs,” the Coordination Committee said.
They strongly demanded to release state share under JJM, release all pending running bills of the contractors and ensure full clearance of all pending claims for the executed works as per SBD norms. They warned to intensify their agitation if the authorities failed to clear their pending payments. The government must intervene and resolve the issue and if needed, order high level inquiry in the JJM mission irregularities in the JKUT, they added.
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