Srinagar Jan 8: Peoples Democratic Party today said bills worth hundreds of crores of rupees had remained unpaid for months together at the treasuries.
 The party demanded immediate release of payment in favour of contractors and suppliers.
 Referring to press reports that contractors, self help groups and suppliers were not paid in time, chief spokesperson of the party Naeem Akhtar in a statement said it was a matter of grave concern that the government withheld genuine payments even as it received funds for every work that was taken up.
 Akhtar said a representative body of government contractors had claimed that the government owed them at least Rs 1,000 crore in Kashmir valley alone which gave one an idea about the gravity of problem.
 He said though it was a common knowledge that payments were generally withheld for “extorting money from the executors of any government work”, the fact that there was no response from the government to complaints of the contractors made it clear that the “top leadership too was a beneficiary of the brazen loot.”
 Akhtar alleged that the government was “patronising a small group of people especially in Srinagar who worked as benami proxies and partners of some ruling politicians and they alone received payments in time or even in advance in some cases.”
 “Rest of the entrepreneurs who generally work with small capital holdings to make their two ends meet,” he added, “are left high and dry.”
 He said such small and petty contractors were on the verge of bankruptcy as their bank interest was mounting while the “government watched either with helplessness or complicity.”
 "For its favourites the government even diverted funds, dispensed with bidding and violated all norms," he said.
 Describing government claims about financial discipline as “phoney”, Akhtar said, “The inability to make even small payments in time exposed it fully.”
 He said there should have been no reason for denying timely payments if the government had followed the plan and budget as every expenditure in a democracy is authorised by the legislature.
 "If the works are approved with some financial commitment then why are not the payments made? Where does the money that is authorised by the legislature go?" Akhtar asked. The PDP spokesman said: "At some treasuries money has become a commodity that is bought and sold for a price. Even in some departments at the secretariat level some chosen contractors are able to get works approved and funds allocated in their name rather than the department which is an outright fraud and an indicator of this government's contempt for norms,” he said.
 Akhtar alleged that while on the one hand the government had huge resources for the luxuries of its leaders “but when it comes to making genuine expenditure it cites lack of resources.”
 He said thousands of people engaged in different departments as casual, daily wagers or seasonal employees “do not receive remuneration for months together. In some cases the payment to these highly exploited persons is made once or twice in a year but only equal to one or two months wages,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 8 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 8 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Jan 2013 00:00:00 IST