All water-related maintenance work in the city might come to a halt from Thursday as leaders of the contractors’ associations announced that they would go on a strike, after their talks with Water Board officials over payments failed to arrive at a consensus on Tuesday.
“The Water Board’s managing director, Mr Adhar Sinha, did not give us a written assurance that payments will be made to contractors for bills worth `18 crore, pending since 2005. We tried our best not to go on the strike but the officials are not willing to give any written assurance on payment,” Mr Mohd Ali Zaffar, president of Bhagyanagar Contractors’ Wel-fare Association, said after the meeting came a cropper.
If the contractors go on strike, all maintenance work, taken up every day on complaints received from residents, will come to a halt from Thursday. The associations have also decided to stop all work scheduled to be taken up as part of the chief minister’s 100-day programme. These include repair and replacement of polluting water pipelines, leaking drainage lines, reconstruction and replacement of manhole covers, power and handbore wells, among others.
Leaders from four major associations of contractors working for HMWS&SB met the officials on Tuesday but failed to reach a consensus after the four-hour discussions. Water Board Bhagyanagar Contractors’ Welfare Association general secretary V.V. Rao, Water Board Greater City Contractors’ Welfare Association leader P. Krishna, Telangana United Contractors’ Association general secretary Shailendra Nath and New Bhagyanagar Contractors’ Welfare Association leader Inaamul Haq took part in the deliberations. Even as they complete work at short notice, the Board fails to make payments due to them, they said.