KARIMNAGAR: Vexed over the delay in clearing his bills for executing a school development work under the ‘Mana Ooru, Mana Badi’ programme, a contractor locked the Mandal Parishad Primary School at Chintakunta in Kottapalli mandal on Tuesday. The contractor, Srikanth, is said to have spent Rs 4.5 lakh on the development work and ran from pillar to post for getting his bills cleared.
“I have completed about 75 per cent of the work, but I have not received a single rupee so far,” he lamented. He said that pressure was mounting on him to repay the loan he borrowed to undertake the work. Though he had no intention to disturb the education of the children, he was compelled to lock the school out of desperation, he claimed.
The students were forced to stand in the verandah and under the shade of the trees after the contractor locked the school. Schoolteachers brought the issue to the notice of District Educational Officer (DEO) CHVS Janardhan Rao who sent the Mandal Educational Officer to look into the matter.
Following the intervention of the MEO, the contractor relented and removed the lock. DEO Janardhan Rao assured that contractor’s bills would be cleared as soon as possible.