VELLORE: Vellore Corporation has made it mandatory for all contractors who are seeking their final payment for their completed project works to have the work vetted and tested by qualified faculty and staff of government engineering or technology colleges, in addition to certain other registration requirements, from April 1 onwards.
Contractors have been traditionally asked to renew their registration with the Corporation on an annual basis between April and June. This rule will continue to hold but in addition the Corporation has made it mandatory for contractors to provide their relevant employee documents pertaining to Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees’ State Insurance(ESI) at the time of renewing their registration with the Corporation.
Additionally contractors have been asked to submit photocopies of their income earned, PAN cards, encumbrance certificates, and property tax certificates at the time of registration.
Sources said that the new mandatory requirements were implemented by the Corporation after frequent allegations of councillors of public projects undertaken by contractors (such as the laying of roads, construction of corporation buildings and other projects) being of sub-standard quality.
In the last four months, councillors have made allegations claiming that within months of construction newly laid roads in the city limits have deteriorated rapidly.
With the new requirement relating to closure and completion of projects, zonal engineers should complete two forms (the Check Slip and the Audit Slip) for each project after receiving the ‘testing certificate’ received by qualified faculty members of government colleges. These documents should be submitted along with other relevant documents pertaining to the completed project prepared by the contractors to the Corporation main office. Only after verifying the completed Check and Audit Slips and the ‘testing certificate’ by Corporation officials, will the final payment to the contractors be issued.
“Government college faculty members will either check the buildings, roads or other projects on the spot or send samples of the work to college laboratories for testing. Certifications given by the government colleges are to be submitted along with the Check and Audit Slips,” said a corporation official.
“The Corporation has the power to reject contractors for any upcoming new project tenders without notifying them if they fail to submit the necessary documents during the renewal of registration. They will not be allowed to participate in corporation tenders,” said a senior engineer at the Corporation.