Tussle between Triveni, contractors likely to hit work

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 21

The Rs 288 crore project to provide 100 per cent sewerage and water supply to city residents is all set to be affected as the Noida-based Triveni company, assigned the job, has decided to cancel the bills amounting to Rs 50 lakh of around half a dozen contractors to whom the company has sublet work.

The company says the contractors had given the same bills twice while latter deny.

It is learnt that the decision has been taken as the company is irked over the Rs 7 crore penalty imposed by the Sewerage Board for poor execution of work.

Irked over which, the four contractors have announced to stop the work.

Triveni company DGM VB Shivangi said the company audit’s was going on and if there was any irregularity in the payment of any contractor, they could reject it.

Contractors Kahaniya Lal and Bhushan Kumar said they had asked the company officials to give them statement and documents related to bills but their demand had been repeatedly ignored.

Earlier too on March 9, contractor Kahaniya Lal, along with his workers, had locked Triveni company DGM VB Shivangi in his office over the non-payment of pending bills of around Rs 50 lakh by the company.

The police had to intervene to resolve the issue.

The Sewerage Board had imposed Rs 7 crore penalty on the company but so far it has recovered only Rs 26 lakh. The recovery has been made by cutting the money from the bills of the company.

The company had filed appeal against this with the Sewerage Board SE and termed the penalty wrong.

The company has claimed that 80 percent of the work provided by the Sewerage Board had been completed.

While the board claims that the company was executing work on its own terms.