THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Water Authority Government Contractors Association is on the warpath against the non-payment of dues to the tune of Rs 600 crore. The maintenance works under the KWA are not undertaken these days as the department has run out of funds. With summer season on the anvil, engineers and contractors fear that things are not going to be smooth for the KWA in the days ahead. Ever since the LDF government came to power, KWA contractors have been undertaking only minor repair works as they fear that their bills will not get cleared on time.
Initially finance minister Dr T. M. Thomas Isaac had released Rs 27 crore and Rs 15 crore towards the pending dues to KWA and NABARD respectively. But currently, Rs 63 crore is due to NABARD alone. Contrac-tors say if they get at least Rs 100 crore under the NABARD now, they would be able to start their work. Varghese Kannampally, president of KGCA, told DC that unfortunately neither the KWA nor the government was approaching for more Central funds. “The director board meeting of KWA has not taken place for more than three months now. But when we led a protest march towards Secretariat on Tuesday, the KWA officials have woken up from their slumber and held an emergency board meeting,” said Mr Kannampally.
But water resources minister Mathew T. Thomas denied this, saying the agenda earlier was to hold the board meeting on Jan 11. But due to some technical reasons, it was postponed. “We are unable to release funds at this juncture. The only way to deal with this situation is that we will have to improve the bill collection. The situation has improved over the last few months. If earlier the Union government had sanctioned Rs 200 crore under the National Rural Drinking Water Progra-mme, it has now come down to Rs 40 crore," he said. Though allocations were still open for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) so far only eight districts in the state have got benefits.
