GUWAHATI: Along with the rest of the railway zones in the country, the Indian Railways Infrastructure Providers Association (IRIPA) will resort to a tool-down strike at Northeast Frontier Railway zone here on March 6, 2020 if the pending bills for work done were not cleared by Thursday.
Addressing reporters here on Wednesday, members of the association alleged that the Union railways ministry was suppressing the contractors of the association by not clearing the outstanding dues for the work done to the contractors and members.
According to the association, the contractors/members under Northeast Frontier Railway zone have not been paid about Rs 1000 crore for work done over a year now. There are about 300 contractors in NFR zone itself with about one lakh labourers associated with project/maintenance work.
“The bills raised by the members of the association are withheld on the plea of non-availability of funds, exhausting the provisions in the Budget of 2019-2020. Despite requesting the railway administration since long to resolve the issue of outstanding payments, no relief has been granted to us,” a member of the association, said.
The association further alleged that monthly payments were completely stopped since February 2020 on the ground that the Budget provisions stood fully utilised and there were no more funds.
“The department however had insisted on continuing the work without releasing any further payment. We regret to inform that small contractors who have undertaken work of repair and track maintenance are the worst affected. Therefore, if the payments are not released by Thursday, we will have no option but to stage a token daylong strike on Friday,” he said.