HYDERABAD: All engineering works in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits ground to a halt on Thursday following the strike called by GHMC Contractors Association demanding the Corporation clear bills worth around Rs 800 crore.
These bills are pending since March 2022. Holding placards with ‘No payment, no work’ written on them, the contractors staged demonstrations at all GHMC Zonal offices. The Association has about 3,000 contractors as members.
“We have met GHMC Commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar and all Zonal Commissioners seeking release of long pending dues but they told us that funds are not available with the Corporation,” Association president A Ramakrishna Reddy and General Secretary Surender Singh said. Surender Singh said that emergency works, laying of roads, clearing storm water drains, instant repairs and other maintenance works have been stopped.
“We have submitted representations to the Commissioner and GHMC Additional Commissioner (Finance), Jayraj Kennedy but there is no response from them, forcing us to stop the works,” he added. They said that the State government has money to pay Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) and Comprehensive Road Maintenance Programme (CRMP) contractors but not to pay smaller contractors who have been forced to wait endlessly.