AMC to release partial dues of Rs 40 crore to contractors

Aurangabad, Oct 12:

The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) administrator A K Pandey today has announced of releasing dues of Rs 40 crore to the contractors, who are waiting for the clearance of their outstanding bills to the tune of Rs 240 crore, for last two years. The distribution of payments will start on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Pandey has also clarified that the AMC will release the third instalment in February 2021.

As reported earlier, the AMC administration undertook development works on a large scale without reviewing its financial resources between 2015 and 2017. It was unable to pay the bills of contractors. The development work bills to the tune of Rs 240 crore were lying unpaid with the accounts section. In 2017, the then acting chief accounts officer N G Durrani had released the first instalment of Rs 32 crore. Since then the AMC failed to release a single penny.

Contractors grieved that they had put in all their savings to complete the development works allotted to them. Some of them

added of procuring equipment, required to complete the contracts, on rent.

The contractors left no stone unturned to get their dues but were in vain. They got fed up making rounds of AMC headquarters for their payments. Last year, they observed a strike for two long months, but it also failed to yield any results. As a result, the contractors boycotted AMC and are not taking a minor contract of repairing of roads since then.

Pandey decided to clear the bills as per the section. The new acting chief accounts officer Sanjay Pawar has been ordered to release the payments.

Pawar said, " They have made the planning of Rs 40 crore as per the guidelines of the administrator. They had procured Rs 30 crore from Town Planning and Rs 10 crore was received under various heads like fire brigade, sewage cess, water tax etc."