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Govt not paying Tk 280cr overdue for last 7yrs

Allege roads and highways contractors

Staff Correspondent
The government has not paid the roads and highways contractors dues of Tk 280 crore accumulated over the last seven fiscal years, the victims alleged yesterday.
They blamed the delay on the opposition of Roads Division Secretary MAN Siddique. They told The Daily Star that around Tk 180 crore had been overdue in the last two fiscals alone.
In last September, the communications ministry wrote to the Roads and Highways chief engineer asking his office not to pay any dues from before the 2013-14 fiscal, said Morshedul Haque Morshed, general secretary, Bangladesh Roads and Highways Contractors' Association.
The ministry did not give any reason for such a directive, he said. "Since then we have been trying to get our payment but the secretary is reluctant to do it for us for some unknown reasons."
Morshed said the ministry had formed several inquiry committees following the issuance of the letter. The inquiry reports say there is nothing wrong in paying off the money, he said.
He mentioned that the Awami League-led government during its last tenure paid around Tk 326 crore of dues which were amassed during the preceding BNP-led government. "But this time, they were not showing such willingness."
The Daily Star called up the roads division secretary several times and sent him text messages but he did not respond. Roads and Highways Chief Engineer Mofizul Islam Raj Khan confirmed the issuance of the letter, and said they were trying to "solve the problem".
The contractors' association yesterday laid a siege to the chief engineer's office at Sharak Bhaban in the capital's Tejgaon, from where its members threatened that they would stop all sorts of road constructions if the dues were not paid immediately.
On different occasions, the communications minister and other high officials made quick visits to different roads and directed the authorities to reconstruct damaged parts of the roads immediately, they said.
The contractors had to follow their instructions based on the verbal assurance of the authorities, said Morshed. They rebuilt roads before the announcement of tenders spending money from their own pockets, he added. Zahiruddin Babar, president of the contractors' association, demanded a proper investigation to reveal the causes behind the delay in the payment.
Amiruzzaman Murad, a contractor from Manikganj, said due to the delay in the release of the money, he had been struggling to meet the financial needs of his family.
From the besiegement programme, the contractors announced their next protest, which is a three-day sit-in at the divisional Roads and Highways offices from 10:00am to 5:00pm from May 19.