Contractors stage dharna over GST

Tribune News Service

Karnal, July 19

Contractors of the municipal corporation (MC) staged a dharna at its office here yesterday in protest against the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on projects for which tenders were allotted before July 1.

They handed over a memorandum to MC Executive Officer Dheeraj Kumar, demanding the release of payment for the work completed before the GST came into force.

Yudhvir Singh, cashier of the Contractors Association, Municipal Corporation, said it was unfortunate that the government had imposed GST on projects for which tenders had been allotted before it was enforced.

“We approached officials, who told us that they did not have any guidelines from the government to release payments. The government should exempt all projects allotted before July 1 from the GST,” he said.

Sham Singh Narwal, president of the association, said their payments should be released at the earliest, failing which they would stop all ongoing development work in the city.