The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Naval contractors told to submit royalty bills

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Naval contractors told to submit royalty bills

Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM: Contractors, appointed by the Navy to execute its various construction projects, will no longer enjoy the immunity of non-production of royalty bills when demanded by the Department of Mines and Geology.

In response to an article published in The Hindu on June 19, the Navy has directed its contractors to produce the royalty bills for the last one year.

It may be recalled that two contractors appointed by the Director General of the Married Accommodation Project (DGMAP), New Delhi, for supply of building materials for construction of quarters for married personnel of the Navy atop the Yarada Hill failed to produce the bills when demanded by officials of the Department of Mines and Geology.

Assistant Director (Vigilance) G.V.V.S. Chowdary had seized two lorries in which sand and stone were being transported and handed them over to the police.

Serious view

It is learnt that the Naval authorities had taken a serious view of the report and directed the contractors to submit the bills.

“Defence contractors have not been producing royalty bills when demanded by us. We made a vain bid to overcome the problem for the past several years.

“The contractors used to behave as though they were immune to the law and the Defence officials also failed to cooperate with us,” Joint Director of the Department of Mines and Geology N. Subrahmanyam told The Hindu when contacted.

“They have directed the contractors to submit the bills following publication of the report. We are verifying the bills and we will impose penalties, if there are any violations in respect of the work already carried out,” he added.

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