Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 3: Contractors today protested against Irrigation and Flood Control Department in Kakapora area of Pulwama district and demanded release of their pending payments.
The contractors assembled outside Flood Control Department office in Kakapora and shouted slogans. They told Excelsior that the department was not releasing payments of their work that was done after the devastating floods of September 2014.
“We are protesting because after September floods the officers told us to start work and betrayed us by saying that funds are available. On their instance, we started the work by lending money from banks and also from our pockets. But since more than a year no one is listening to us nor is our payment being released. Today we are demanding authorities including Chief Minister to sort out issue and release our payments,” Abdul Rashid, a contractor, said.
The contractors said that they have liability of lakhs of rupees and they are facing serious financial problems. “They don’t care about us or our children,” the contractors said, adding “that time we worked tirelessly along the banks of river Jhelum. We plugged in major breaches and saved the dignity and honour of the department.”
Warning of serious consequences, the contractors said that if there payments are not released within 8 days, they will go to any extent and the responsibility would lie on the shoulders of Government.
Meanwhile, the Executive Engineer Flood Control Department Sartaj Singh told Excelsior that they have already released 440 lakh rupees of payment in favour of the contractors and pending amount would also be released soon. “All the formalities and verification have been done and now the file is lying with Finance and Rehabilitation Department in Civil Secretariat. It is they who have to release payment and I hope it would be done soon because there are certain rules and procedures that are to be followed in Government,” he said.
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