By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 21: The VPP on Wednesday asked the state government to release the dues of the contractors engaged by the PWD (Roads).
Raising this issue during the Question Hour of budget session of the Assembly, VPP MLA from Nongkrem Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit asked if the state government has set any deadline to clear the contractors’ dues.
He told the House that there are many contractors who are yet to receive their pending bills from 10 to 15 years ago.
In his reply, Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of PWD, Prestone Tynsong said that the department has taken initiatives to ensure that the bills pending for two to three years are cleared.
The bills are cleared on the basis of their serial number, he said. “We are trying our best to bring down the pending bills in the next fiscal year to Rs 400 to Rs 500 crore,” he said.
Earlier, while replying to a question raised by UDP MLA Renikton L Tongkhar, Tynsong said that the bills that were raised in the 2nd quarter (September 2023) and 3rd Quarter (December 2023) amount to Rs 197.97 crore and Rs 291.97 crore, respectively.
Tynsong added that the total amount paid to the contractors in the aforementioned two quarters are Rs 329.47 crore and Rs 291.22 crore respectively.
Dues worth Rs 541.93 crore have been cleared as on December 2023, Tynsong said.
Participating in the debate, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma clarified that the there is a difference between bank of sanctions and pending bills. The bank of sanction, he told the House, means the amount of projects that are allowed to be taken up once the budget is provided.
“The bank of sanction is not pending dues. We forward to the Finance department whenever the PWD department puts up the pending bills,” the CM added.