Pics: Abhijith N Kolpe

Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Sep 3: The sub-contractors of Mangaluru have alleged that IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company Limited had failed to pay bills amounting to Rs 2.56 crore since 2019.

IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company had bagged a contract from GAIL and contractor had undertaken several projects since 2014.

Since 2019, a bill amounting to Rs 2.56 crore is pending payment from the construction company. Despite sending reminders for making the payment, the construction company has delayed in clearing the outstanding dues. The contractors had worked for the construction company from 2014 to 2021. But they have failed to clear the bill since 2019. Despite making several efforts to reach out to the company, there had been no response.

The sub-contractors said they had staged a protest in June against the company and had sought the intervention of deputy commissioner (DC) Dr Rajendra K V following which the company officials had promised to clear the dues. Though they had stopped the protest, the company is yet to clear the pending bill amount.

The sub-contractors said one of the contractors Gubbala Srinivas had unfortunately committed suicide on August 24 at Ernakulam, unable to service his bank loans. Contractors from Mangaluru numbering about 24 of them are facing problem with regard to the payment of their pending bills. Similarly, the construction company has to clear the payments for 7,500 contractors in the country.

The contractors also alleged that the construction company had also cheated MLA U T Khader and MLC B M Farooq.

The contractors demanded the intervention of the DC to clear the pending dues and sought justice and relief for the deceased contractor.

Contractors Dawood, Selvam, Yogesh Shetty, Prathap and others were present.