There is virtual mess about financial liabilities of the State Government. According to one estimate liabilities compute to no fewer than 700 crore rupees by way of payments not made to contractors who have completed projects allotted to them by the PWD and other State departments. Not one but many departments are cited to have withheld payment to the contractors. Affected contractors have threatened to go on hunger strike if payment is not released within shortest possible time. The reason for non clearance of the bills of contractors is that many works were completed under pressure from individual ministers and MLAs without getting these regularized at the Planning Department level. Since there was no clearance of such projects with the Planning Department it would not be in a position to clear their pending bills. It is a matter of surprise that responsible ministers should have maneuvered to get some projects completed in their respective constituencies but without going through the entire process. A minister cannot justify his action of pressuring the PWD Department to introduce a developmental project without the proper sanction at various levels. There are contradicting reports of actual amount of liability. It is something like 200 to 300 crore rupees according to the Secretary of Public Works Department. But unofficial reports say the amount runs into 700 crore rupees.
It is a somewhat confusing situation. Who will decide whether the project launched by a minister without prior sanction of Planning Commission has to be validated or not? If not, then who is responsible for paying the outstanding wages of hundreds of laborers who have worked on the project not knowing their paymaster was nowhere visible. Unrest among the contractors might spread to the labour class also and this would be a very embarrassing situation for the Government. A solution to this rigmarole has to be found by higher authorities in the State administration.
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