Contractors halt work on development projects on penalty issue

Ongoing development works amounting to over Rs 440 crore, awarded by the Public Works Department (PWD) in Chandrapur and Wardha districts, came to a grinding halt today as the contractors went on an indefinite strike to protest against a "penalty" clause.
They said the administration has imposed unreasonable "penalty" clause on them which should be annulled to allow them to get back to executing the projects.
Addressing a press conference here, the office-bearers of Chandrapur Circle Builders' Association said the Maharashtra Government had provided ample funds to PWD in Chandrapur and Wardha districts for construction of roads, bridges and flyovers during the current financial year.

Accordingly, the contracts were awarded and agencies were working on completing them within a stipulated time period.
But, the District Collector's office issued a letter to PWD authorities on February 15, directing them to recover a penalty amounting to five times the value of minor minerals used in construction like sand, boulder, metal and murrum if the contractor concerned fails to provide Royalty Clearance by way of transit pass (TP), they said.
Secretary of the Association, Sandeep Kothari, said there is no such clause in the agreements inked between PWD and the contractors.

"It is a matter of shock and surprise to our contractor fraternity here that this unreasonable clause is imposed only in Chandrapur and Wardha districts and nowhere else in Maharashtra.

"We used to submit the TPs against procurement of minor minerals to Mining Department, which after verification, used to issue Royalty Clearance. The same were to be submitted to PWD for release of payment against completion of work," said Kothari.
There are over 400 applications for Royalty Clearance that are pending with the Mining Officer in the collectorate for clearance, he said.
"Because of indifferent attitude of mining officials, no clearance has been issued to any of the contractors since past 3 years and the district administration recovered around Rs 14 crore from the contractors in 2015 against pending clearances."

The Superintending Engineer (PWD), Chandrapur Circle, in his reply to District Collector on February 18, had said a strike by the contractors would result in considerable delay in execution of various development. He urged the Collector to reconsider his decision to impose the penalty.