Watch: Contractors stage protest in Telangana Secretariat again seeking bill payments

Mana Ooru Mana Badi contractors staged a protest at the Secretariat in Hyderabad demanding clearance of pending bills worth Rs.369 crore. They alleged discrimination as Megha Engineering’s dues were cleared, while their payments have been pending for nearly two years

Hyderabad: Unable to tolerate the State government’s apathy in clearing their pending bills, Mana Ooru Mana Badi contractors staged a protest in front of the chambers of Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Monday.

The contractors entered the Secretariat and headed towards the Deputy Chief Minister’s chambers. However, police, on noticing their gathering, tried to obstruct them.

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A brief argument took place between the contractors and the police after they were denied permission to meet the Finance Minister. The contractors informed the police that they only wanted to make an appeal, but were not allowed.

“After much persuasion, three to four contractors were permitted to meet the Deputy Chief Minister. However, he gave us the routine assurance of addressing our issues at the earliest,” a contractor said.

The State government has to clear bills of the contractors to the tune of Rs.369 crore. It has been almost two years, but the government has not made the payments, they alleged.

Under the Mana Ooru Mana Badi programme, the previous BRS government constructed buildings for several government schools across the State. Though most bills were cleared till June 2023, after the election notification was announced, the remaining bills were kept pending, a contractor said.

“Interestingly, the bills of Megha Engineering were cleared promptly, but our bills worth Rs.369 crore have been pending for two years,” another contractor said.

The contractors said that despite submitting several representations to the government, there was no respite. A fortnight ago, they staged a protest at the School Education Commissioner’s office.

“The officials assured us that the bills would be cleared in 15 to 20 days, but there has been hardly any progress. Hence, we met Bhatti Vikramarka and urged him to release the payments,” another contractor said.

Last week, Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy appealed to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to clear the pending bills of Mana Ooru Mana Badi contractors.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, the Council Chairman urged him to release the pending amount, stating that the delay was causing severe hardships to the contractors.

This is the second time contractors have staged protests inside the Secretariat demanding clearance of pending bills.

On March 27 this year, the Telangana Civil Contractors Association staged a protest at Bhatti Vikramarka’s chambers, urging the Congress government to clear their dues. Contractors, who had executed works pertaining to various departments, complained that despite repeated appeals, the government was not releasing their bills.