Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Feb 12: Contractors associated with the Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) today demanded that their pending dues with the Corporation should be released immediately.
Scores of contractors who are already on protest for last so many days assembled in the press enclave here and urged upon the authorities to look into the matter and get their payment released.
“We have created their assets from which they are getting the Revenue, but they are not paying what is rightfully ours. It is quite a profitable corporation but we are suffering,” said Riyaz Ahmad Qadri, a contractor associated with JKTDC.
The contractors said that they are protesting for last 8 days at TRC from morning to evening, but nobody is taking their issues seriously. “All that we are asking is the release of pending payment for the work that we have done in 2014,” he said.
“The higher-ups in the Corporation are telling us that they will seek the funds from the Government, but the Government on the contrary is saying that the Corporation will have to pay from the revenue which it is generating,” they said, adding that all in all our problems remains unaddressed, we are out to beg, we are seeking what the department owes us.
In order to get their issues resolved, the contractors met with the Managing Director of the Corporation, who told them that he has sent the file to the Secretariat, “but we are asking about the reason why the file is stuck in the Secretariat,” they said.
Further, when the contractors approached the higher ups in the Secretariat, instead of getting their payments released, a committee was formed to look into the matter. “The committee gave a positive response, but even after that nothing was done to resolve our issues,” they said.
The contractors said that they will continue with the protest till their issues are not resolved as soon as possible. “The Government has to understand that we have to pay interest to the bank, while we are having pending market dues that we are yet to clear due to non-release of payments by the JKTDC,” they said.
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