Raising the issue, Congress MLC Abhijit Wanjarri said contractors executing work for departments such as the Public Works Department (PWD) and other departments are facing severe financial distress due to delayed payments. He said that contractors had recently threatened to stop work over unpaid bills.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Legislative Council witnessed heated discussions on Friday over mounting payment delays to contractors, with opposition members demanding a white paper on pending dues that are estimated to run into thousands of crores of rupees. The govt has assured the legislators that the payments are being given to contractors through a transparent process.Raising the issue, Congress MLC Abhijit Wanjarri said contractors executing work for departments such as the Public Works Department (PWD) and other departments are facing severe financial distress due to delayed payments. He said that contractors recently threatened to stop work over unpaid bills.While Wanjarri said that contractors’ organisations have claimed that pending dues amount to nearly Rs 96,000 crore, the PWD minister Shivendra Raje Bhosale stated that arrears stood at around Rs 17,562 crore.“On one hand, we speak of ease of doing business, but on the other hand govt contractors are struggling to get legitimate dues,” Wanjarri said. Calling for greater transparency, the MLC proposed the creation of a contractor payment transparency portal where pending bills and phased disbursements could be tracked in real time.He expressed concern over reports of extreme distress among contractors and questioned whether the crisis could lead to further tragedies. He also sought details of action taken against officials allegedly caught accepting bribes from contractors, asking how many weresuspended or penalised. The minister said that the system of disbursing money to the contractors was an online and transparent process and there was no scope for corruption.