Hyderabad, November 11: The AP State branch of the Builders Association of India has alleged that the bills amounting to Rs 4,760 crore have been pending with the Government and the contractors have warned that if their bills were not cleared within a fortnight they would be forced to stop all construction works.
The executive committee of the association had an emergency meeting here today and discussed the problems being faced by the contractors.
Speaking to newsmen later, association member P Mohan Reddy stated that bills worth Rs 4,000 crore have been pending with the Irrigation department, Rs 100 crore with AP Swagruha Corporation, Rs 210 crore with APHMHIDC, Rs 50 crore with Social Welfare and Rs 300 crore with other corporations.
With crores of rupees being locked up with the Government, the contractors were facing lot of problems and were being pressurised by bankers and creditors, he said. Mohan Reddy said that the cheques being issued by the contractors in anticipation of release of funds from the Government were bouncing in the banks and they were facing criminal cases.
Meanwhile, the meeting adopted some resolutions demanding the Government to clear the bills less than Rs one crore till August 2009 immediately and those above Rs one crore till May, 2009. The meeting wanted the Government to fix priorities according to packages and inform it to the financial institutions concerned.
–Agencies