Hyderabad: Contractor syndicates are back in action and are trying to siphon off government funds by forming a cartel.
The cartel is trying to obstruct the Telangana state government’s project to renovate the internal roads in all districts connecting to national highways, to put pressure on the TS government to increase bidding price by at least 20 per cent.
Several contractors have submitted bids to renovate the roads in response to the tenders invited by the Roads and Buildings department.
Though the bids were supposed to be opened on September 1 a strong contractors lobby has put pressure on the government to halt the process.
The lobby gave a call to boycott tenders and is also pressurising other contractors who submitted bids and are willing to complete the work for lower rates, to withdraw them. The lobby wants the government to cancel the previous tenders and re-issue them with an increased bid price.
The cartelisation of road contractors has been posing a direct challenge to TS Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
The Roads and Buildings portfolio has not been allotted to any minister and the CM himself is in-charge. If the syndicate succeeds, the TS government will be forced to revise the project’s pricing scale leading to an increase in expenses causing huge losses. Contractors who are not part of the cartel have demanded that the government orders a probe into the issue.
