Contractors on strike, civil works of GHMC to be affected

GHMC contractors strike over unpaid dues, hindering road repairs in Hyderabad despite assurances from authorities.

With the contractors entrusted with various civil works for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on strike for the past two days, there appears a big question mark on the repairs to roads damaged by recent rains.

While GHMC authorities assure that the Instant Repair Teams (IRTs) are working despite the strike, contractors say it is limited to repairs other than roads. The black-top patch works are not happening, they say. Continual showers for the past few days have severely damaged the city roads, especially the colony roads which at some locations are reduced to rubble. Contractors engaged in civil maintenance, including road construction and drain works, have declared strike since May 18, demanding clearance of pending dues.

According to the information shared by the GHMC Contractors Association with over 3,000 members, a total ₹1,350 crore dues are pending to the contractors from GHMC since May, 2023. “Four contractors died during the past one year, one of them by suicide due to debt burden. Very recently, one more contractor died of heart stroke on the GHMC premises, where he went to enquire about the dues. Several of us are small-time contractors doing works to the tune of ₹30 lakh to ₹40 lakh. How can they survive if payments are not made on time?” questioned Ramakrishna Reddy, the president of the association.

The contractors have not received any money for the arrangements made for the elections to the Legislative Assembly six months ago, another contractor complained. “Over 50 contractors were involved in providing assured minimum facilities and basic minimum facilities at the polling stations, and in arrangements at the Distribution, Reception & Counting centres during Assembly elections. Over ₹40 crore is pending from that time, and not a paisa has been released,” complained Rajesh Lahoti, Advisor to the association.

For Parliamentary polls too, only part of the payments is extended as advance, with the remaining amount yet to be paid. On Monday, GHMC has cleared a month’s dues amounting to ₹57 crore, after hectic parleys, Mr. Reddy said.

GHMC Commissioner D. Ronald Rose said while the corporation is still struggling with finances, amount due to the contractors is being cleared in phases. So far, ₹550 crore has been paid, apart from Monday’s release. He also said that the IRTs and monsoon emergency teams are on the field, hence there is no cause for concern.

However, Mr. Reddy said the ₹550 crore mentioned by the Commissioner was from February and March months of the year 2022, and April 2023. It was in payment of loans GHMC had arranged to the contractors by being a guarantor, in lieu of payments due to them, with the caveat that the interest of 8.4% was to be paid by the contractors. “For big-ticket projects, GHMC avails loans and pays interests. But we small-time contractors have to pay the interest on amount due from GHMC,” Mr. Reddy remarked.