₹90,000 crore unpaid dues, force builders and contractors to protest
Written by – Brena Soni
Builders and contractors of the state call for a protest on government projects due to unpaid dues.
Mumbai : On Monday, builders and contractors member from the Builders Association of India (BAI) and Maharashtra State Contractors Association (MSCA), who are working on the development projects of the government, called for a protest and stopped work in the coming few days due to unpaid dues by the government.
According to the claims made by the association, they mention that the state government has not been able to pay the unpaid bills of the contractors working on government projects like roads, bridges, and building construction. The contractors whose collective bills of over Rs 90,000 crore are outstanding with the government have now announced they will step up their ongoing protest for the recovery of the dues.
Anand Gupta, Vice President of the Builder Association of India “We want the state government to take action against the pending amount of Rs 90,000 crore, which is pending, particularly in the public works department, irrigation, and water. In spite of several meetings with the chief minister, twice with the finance minister, PWD secretary, and their authorities. It seems the priority of the government is only Ladki Bahin Yojna and not us; the government should also understand our contribution to society, but they are neglecting us as they want some section of the society. So the government should make sure that dues are cleared on time so that we do not get notices from banks or the GST department. Due to this, many people are facing issues in employment, and some are getting migrated.”
“Due to non-payment, we are getting notices, which has become a humiliating situation for us, and we are becoming helpless,” Gupta further added. Also asked if your association reached out to government authorities in regards to the issues over which Gupta said, “We have directly not come to media; first we reached out to the government authorities, but they only gave oral assurance of working on it but didn’t act on it. If the government does not listen to our demands, then we will be moving to the high and supreme court for justice.
When it comes to some background on these projects of the state government, the BAI organization has come up with some reports where it mentions that it has announced projects related to the Jal Jeevan Mission worth Rs 50,000 crore. The dues of the contractors towards these projects are over Rs 5000 crore, and no payment has been made since September 2024.
