Delhi south civic body contractors’ union on strike due to unpaid dues

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) contractors’ union began a protest on Friday at the Civic Centre on Minto Road claiming that it has been not paid around 450 crore for the last three years.Netra Kumar Sharma, who heads the contractors’ union, said, “If the funds are not released in the next 15 days, we will start gheraoing officials and municipal functionaries.”In a memorandum submitted to the SDMC municipal commissioner last month, the All SDMC Contractor Association stated that they have stopped all engineering works until they are paid.

Sharma said that they held several rounds of meetings with municipal functionaries but found no resolution to the problem. “No new payment has been cleared for works carried out since 2019. Civil works worth 450 crore have been completed and contractors are not being paid. Forget about the 10-15% profit margin, even our capital investment is getting destroyed,” he added.

The civil works said the union has not been paid for include road carpeting, their repair, new drains, school building development, the construction of a yoga centre, among other engineering-related projects.

Over the last month, several municipal councillors complained that the developmental work in the run-up to elections can be stalled. Municipal elections in Delhi are staled to be held next year. Mahesh, an SDMC standing committee member and Bharatiya Janata Party councillor from Molarband, said that roads in his area have been dug up and the condition of his areas is bad. “Their payments have not been made since 2019. How will they work without any money? This will affect our poll prospects. Where is all the money from the corporation going?” he said.

A senior official from the engineering department said that there is a financial crisis in the civic body and the corporation tries to release part of the payment on a monthly basis but the pending liabilities have accumulated a lot in the last few years. “It has been reviewed even at the commissioner level but we don’t have money to release immediately,” the official said, requesting anonymity.