Jal Jeevan Mission works in J&K
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 15: Contractors Association, Jammu Province has urged the JKUT Government to release the pending bills of the contractors worth over Rs 1080 crores, pertaining to Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) Scheme works of the Jal Shakti Department in the Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference here today, president of the Association- Sham Singh Jamwal and general secretary -Vinod Kohli said that despite issuing utilization certificate to the concerned Union Ministry by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir with regard to the Jal Jeevan Mission works executed in Kashmir and Jammu provinces, the payments of the contractors have remained un-cleared for the last more than 14 months. They asked when the UC stands issued as per the documents of the concerned Ministry, then why the payments of the contractors have remained unpaid. A high level inquiry should be held to ascertain where this money has gone, they asserted.
Giving details they further said most of the contractors after taking loans from the banks and other financial institutions, executed works under Jal Jeevan Mission in the Department of Jal Shakti, in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. While the bills worth over Rs 700 crores pertained to the contractors of Jammu Province, the remaining amount of nearly Rs 380 crores belonged to the contractors from Kashmir province.
Association general secretary, Vinod Kohli said that they met concerned Executive Engineers/DDOs, Superintending Engineers and even to the Chief Engineer and the Administrative Secretary concerned several times, but they got only hollow assurances. The contractors have already finished all the works but their pending bills are not being cleared for the reason best known to the people at the helm of affairs.
Kohli said as per clear Central guidelines, the concerned DDOs must clear 75% of the bills within 10 days of submitting bills by the contractors and rest of the 25% amount with in next three months. In case of delay, the contractors must be paid the amount along with the interest at the GPF rate. Though this scheme has now been extended for three more years, the officials at the helm of affairs are not adhering to these directives and clearing the pending bills.
The Association has sought the intervention of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Jal Shakti Minister Javed Rana and the Chief Secretary , JKUT, Atal Dulloo into the urgent matter.
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