Anantnag, May 14 (KNS): The contractors of Anantnag Saturday staged protest against Public Health Engineering (PHE) department against their ‘failure to release the amount from past more than two years’.
According to KNS correspondent, at least 200 contractors assembled outside the PHE division Bijbehara and locked the division office of the department while chanting slogans against the department.
Ali Muhammad, one of the contractors told KNS that the department has miserably failed to release their payment from past two and half years. “We went from pillar to post for the genuine demands but unfortunately nothing has been done in this regard,” he said.
He said that the contractors have worked under different schemes including UIDSSMP and SORP since the 2014 deluge hit Kashmir.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
However, after completing the works, the department is yet to release their payment. “At least RS 9.50 crores have not been released from past two and half years,” he said.
The protesting contractors said that they will decide future protest programme on May 16 to press the department for their demands.
Admitting the facts that the division office has been locked by the contractors, Bashir Ahmad Shah, a senior official of PHE division Bijbehara told KNS that there is some payment issue due to which the contractors locked the office.
“I was in board meeting today and we will look into the matter and will redress the genuine grievances of contractors at earliest,” he said. (KNS)