* Staff blackmailing, asking to reduce bills by 25%
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 9: Jal Shakti (PHE) Department Contractors Association has alleged that their bills worth crores of rupees are not being cleared by the department even after commissioning of many water supply schemes while in many cases some senior officers/ engineers are blackmailing them to reduce bills by at least 25 % , strangely after completion of contract work, otherwise the payments will not be released.
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Addressing a joint press conference at Press Club here today, the aggrieved contractors said that after no hope from the Chief Engineer PHE Jammu, some senior officers in the Administrative Department, they have been forced by the `prevailing system in JKUT’ to expose the malpractices going on in the Jammu and Kashmir. There is no accountability at all and no body listens to the grievances of the public or professionals rendering their services to the Government.
They pointed out that Chief Engineer Jal Shakti asked them to upload their bills for clearance for the works executed under various PHE Schemes. Even after one year of submitting bills, the payments are not being cleared. It is strange that they took works in hand through tenders and rates were quoted and works completed. Now, many engineers/DDOs are asking to reduce rates by 25 %, otherwise their bills will not be cleared. This is clear breach of agreement. It never happened in their life for the last 3-4 decades. This is sheer blackmailing of the contractors. They pointed out that in many cases the tenders were done in some other scheme and then scheme was placed under languishing project, for the reason best known to the people at the helm of affairs.
They disclosed that another major issue the contractors are facing is that there are no whereabouts about their security deposits lying with the department. Their huge amount is not being paid back been after completion of works. The concerned DDOs are not taking the responsibility and passing the buck to the other officers. This is happening for the last three and half years and no officer in the Jal Shakti Deptt is giving satisfactory reply. Tens of crores of rupees of the Contractors are held up and the officers are not bothered about their plight.
The contractors have taken loans from the banks to execute works. They are paying interests and installments. But such an attitude of the officers at the helm of affairs have forced the contractors to come out on the roads, conduct gherao of the senior officers and lock them. They said if needed they will fully expose the malfunctioning in many divisions before the ACB authorities. They sought immediate attention of Lt Governor Manoj Sinha into this urgent issue.
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