Visakhapatnam: GVMC contractors have stopped work owing to ongoing tussle between contractors and officials. Minor works have been abruptly ended from August 16 as the contractors cited reasons like unviability due to inordinate delay in payments.
Contractors complain of delayed payments by GVMC officials upto 6-9 months mounting pressure for third party quality control certification.
“Normally, third party quality check is mandatory for every work. While others get payments within a week, the GVMC has been taking a minimum of six months for full settlement. Delayed payment is not feasible for people who depend on contract works," said a contractor on the condition of anonymity.
It may be recalled that officials recovered Rs 1.05 crore from contractors out of projects to the tune of Rs 5 crore under JNNURM. Recently, the GVMC officials deployed a new agency for undertaking quality checks and it resulted in difficulty for pending bills.
A contractor in the water works wing said nearly 70 per cent work was completed by the old agency. Now, the new agency refuses to certify the old work which is a major hurdle for making payments. “We received payment for a bill this month which was submitted in March. In fact, the process was started in January. Under such circumstances, we had to stop work. We have been appealing to senior officials for a long time to streamline the bill payment system for the sake of small contractors but to no avail,” lamented another contractor.
While GVMC officials have been demanding action against contractors who violated the norms. While some contractors complained of irregularity in the case of regular employees and demand action against those responsible.
A senior official from the engineering department said they have initiated action only against contractors who have committed irregularities and denied any impact on ongoing projects.
