Contractors supplying food during pandemic on verge of starving

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad:

The pandemic situation got eased one and a half years ago. Still, the contractors (big or small) who had supplied meals and other necessary goods and items to the patients undergoing treatment in Covid Care Centres (CCC) are making rounds of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and the district administration for want of their outstanding bills to the tune of Rs 7 crore.

The first Covid-19 patient was detected in the city in March 2020. Later on, the Coronavirus infection started spreading in the city. Hence the number of patients also started to increase. Acting upon the orders of the state government, the AMC took all measures to control the situation in the city. The CCCs were established in different parts of the city to treat patients. Each patient was living at least for one week or more. Hence the AMC appointed contractors to provide cooked meals to these CCC inmates and provide other necessary goods and items like mattresses, beds, pillows, cots, coconut hair oil, toothpaste, toothbrush etc.

Initially, the government released funds to AMC through District Planning Committee (DPC). Later on, the funding stopped. As a result, the outstanding bills of GMCH, District Civil Hospital (DCH) and AMC were not released. This pushed the suppliers into trouble. In the first phase, the District Task Force gave Rs 7.94 crore to AMC. It paid the dues of contractors who had worked in the first wave. However, the expense was also made hugely in the second wave. Hence the AMC is waiting for an aid to clear bills of Rs 7 crore.