Karnataka   

Bills will be settled, contractors told

DAVANGERE: The Davangere District Contractors Association has urged Principal Secretary of Public Works Department R.B. Agavane to settle the long-pending bills of the contractors of the district.

A delegation of contractors, led by D. Basavaraj, A. Kondaiah and H. Durgappa, office-bearers of the association, met the principal secretary who was here a few days ago on his way to Bangalore and apprised him of the problems of the contractors owing to the non-settlement of bills.

Mr. Basavaraj has, in a statement here on Monday, claimed that the principal secretary, after hearing the contractors, assured them of examining the files and releasing funds to settle their bills. Mr. Agavane also asked the executive engineer of the department, H.N. Niranjan, whether the bills of the contractors (estimated at Rs. 10 crore) were pending. Mr. Niranjan told him that the bills were pending since long and he had also written to the Government in the matter. Then, Mr. Agavane said that he would take immediate action to settle the bills of the contractors.

Mr. Basavaraj noted that the Government owed Rs. 10 crore to the contractors in Davangere. He said that the contractors had carried out works that were sanctioned by the Government. The works were allotted through tenders. The authorities concerned had approved the works, he said and added that the contractors were at a loss to understand why the Government had been delaying settlement of their bills.

The association said that contractors were in financial difficulty owing to non-settlement of the bills and they were not in a position to accept new works. It said that many contractors, who had borrowed money from private moneylenders at a higher rate of interest, were disgusted as the private moneylenders were pressuring them to return the money.

The association said that bills of the contractors of the Irrigation Department, the zilla panchayat and local bodies were also pending. In all, the outstanding amount to be settled by the Government was Rs. 1,500 crore.

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