CONTRACTORS DEMANDS THE BRIBERY FROM THE OFFICIALS FROM PATIALA MANDI BOARD FOLLOWED BY THEIR IMPRISONMENT, ASSOCIATION URGED FOR RELIEF FROM INCREASING GST RATE, SPEEDY IMPLEMENTATION OF MINING POLICY AND THEIR TIMELY PAYMENTS
(MOREPIC1) Face2News/Chandigarh
A delegation of Punjab Hot Mix Plant Owners Association (HMPOA) has appealed to the Punjab Government in view of the increasing corruption and the mounting challenges being faced by them during the road and building construction in the state.
The delegation submitted a memorandum to the Finance Minister to strengthen his state-wide corruption-free Punjab campaign and apprised the contractors in Patiala and Sangrur about the open bribery flourishing among the officials of Punjab Mandi Board. Association demands strict actions against them.
Along with this, the memorandum has sought to provide relief from the challenges being faced by the association such as costly raw materials, speedy implementation of mining policy, increasing GST rate and timely payments of their pending dues. There are about 200 contractor members and thousands of allied contractors from this association in the state, who get construction and repairs of National Highways, State Highways, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, bridges, canals and other government buildings.
During the press conference held at Chandigarh Press Club on Monday, Association President Balwinder Singh Sidhwan and General Secretary JP Singla have alleged that Engineer Davinder Singh Momi, Engineer Parminder Singh and SDO Amritpal Singh, posted in Punjab Mandi Board, Patiala had taken 4.5 percent of the tender in form of bribe was taken as commission while the rest of the bribe is demanded after the bill is approved.
The contractors of the state are in utter resentment with this flourishing corruption. The association made serious allegations on the government functioning and said that from the bottom to the top officials are involved in corruption .
They alleged that these officials hired some boys, both privately and non-technically, whose job is to check non-payment of bribes from the ongoing projects. Threats are given even if the commission is not given, then they have power to cancel their tender by removing the flaws. The victim contractors Jagpal Mittal, Ankit Bansal, Bhimsen, Jasvir Kumar Sharma and Pankaj Jindal are victims of the arbitrariness of these officers.(SUBHEAD)
Sidhwan further highlighting this seriousness said that a third party is appointed by the Punjab government whose job is to check the quality of road construction. But the Quality Control Officer, in nexus with the Mandi Board, pressurizes the contractors to clear the commission dues.
The contractors are often put under full pressure to stop the tender midway as well as cancel the license of the contractor. During the press conference with Sidhawan, other office bearers – Janki Ram Gupta, Mohan Singh, Kulwinder Singh as well as zonal head Tara Singh and Ramesh Kumar Gupta also reinforced these allegations.
The association has strongly demanded that the transfer of officers is not the solution to this problem, but a corruption-free Punjab should be made by putting a fair investigation into this scam followed by recovery and putting them behind the bars.
Along with this, the association members also apprised them about the challenges being faced by them. According to Sidhwan, the prices of steel, LDO oil, diesel, cement, gravel, stone and road construction materials have increased significantly due to the Ukraine war and rising inflation. Association demanded the speedy implementation of mining policy and under that the rates of materials used in new tenders should be fixed. They have also demanded that with the rise of the GST rate from 12 to 18 percent, the outstanding amount should also be given at the rate of 18 percent.
During the conference, the contractors also requested the Punjab government to clear the dues of various projects completed by them in the previous years, which is about Rs 700 crore, at the earliest.
