HYDERABAD: Objecting to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) clearing the contractor dues of the current financial year instead of the long pending dues of the past financial year, the Contactors’ Association has urged GHMC Commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar to release the pending funds. The civic body recently started clearing funds for small amounts owed to the contractors in the current financial year and this trend caused a major uproar amongst the contractors as their pending bills from the last year amounting to Rs 210 crore were not cleared.
Contractors are questioning the logic behind this move of releasing current funds and ignoring the pending dues. The Association’s General Secretary, Hanumanth Sagar said that more than Rs 550 crore is pending with the GHMC with Rs 210 crore dues incurred in March and Rs 340 crore in September 2021. The contractors claim that they were severely hit by the Covid- 19 pandemic and they are unable to pay their monthly EMIs, rents, labour payments etc. They also allege that the department has overlooked seniority while clearing the payments and has not cleared the payments pending till March 2021.The association urged the GHMC Commissioner, DS Lokesh Kumar to release pending dues of March (Rs 210 crore), June (Rs 20 crore), July (Rs 130 crore), August (Rs 110 crore) and September (Rs 80 crore).
Civic body move draws flak
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) recently started clearing funds for small amounts owed to the contractors in the current financial year and this trend caused a major uproar amongst the contractors as their pending bills from the last year amounting to Rs 210 crore were not cleared