The businessmen of Jhapa and Elam claim that 22 million rupees of three dozen schemes have not been paid.
What you should know
The builders of Jhapa and Eelam are protesting that they have not received the payment for the projects built in the financial year 2080/81.
They have also warned that they will announce a program of more phased protests, showing that construction workers are on the way to flee due to government actions that implement plans but do not pay.
They claim that about 22 million rupees have yet to be paid for dozens of projects implemented in Jhapa and Ilam through the Infrastructure Development Office Jhapa under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development of Koshi Province. The plan was implemented in the financial year 2080/81. According to them, most of the plans implemented in that financial year have been completed. Some projects have not been completed due to various reasons. However, they said that they have not yet received the payment for the completed construction plan.
According to Ramesh Adhikari, President of Construction Professionals Association, Jhapa, about 220 crores of 36 schemes have yet to be paid. There is confusion as to where and how the amount will be paid. According to the presiding officer, the last day of implementation of the budget of that financial year, i.e. before June 24, 2081, the VAT bill of the completed scheme was submitted to the infrastructure development office. Similarly, due to unfavorable weather, disputes in the plans, some plans were in the construction stage at that time. However, he said that even those plans were not properly evaluated and the bill was not verified. At that time, they did not work because of the workers' movement. After the employees did not work, the bills that were due to be paid at the last time got paid," the official said, "The employees did not pay all the bills at the last time. The server is down. At the same time, the money of most of the builders has been stopped. According to Pushparaj Niraula, General Secretary of
Association, the builders have repeatedly drawn the attention of the Infrastructure Development Office, State Government, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development etc. At that time, he also got an assurance from the state government that the issue of payment will be included in the budget of the next financial year. "Despite assurances, the issue of payment was not addressed in both the budgets of the fiscal year 2081/82 and 82/83 brought by the provincial government," says General Secretary Niraula, "Now when we raise these issues with the provincial government, the answer is that they cannot be paid under any circumstances." In this way, not giving crores of money to us builders is an injustice to us.'
On July 8, they again submitted a memorandum to Koshi Chief Minister Hikmat Karki and Physical Infrastructure Development Minister Bhupendra Rai. According to General Secretary Niraula, despite the Chief Minister's assurance that he would initiate the necessary withdrawals, he received an irresponsible reply from the Physical Infrastructure Development Minister Rai that he could not make the payment under any circumstances, and that the employees and builders were trying to steal the money together. The Minister of Physical Infrastructure Development will not trust the staff of the Infrastructure Development Office under him. However, we have worked. Even if you go to the field and monitor, it will work," he says. "Let's come and monitor the plans. We have worked. However, the payment should not be stopped like this.'
They also submitted a memorandum to the Infrastructure Development Office, Jhapa on Tuesday, demanding that payments be made as soon as possible for the payment of the completed projects and the delay in making measurements and bills even after the work is completed.
Infrastructure Development Office Jhapa's information officer Uttam Narayan Kharel said that there was a problem in payment when the payment bills were piled up at the last moment and some projects were still in the final stages of construction. These plans started in the same financial year and ended in the same financial year. However, all the plans were not completed on time," he said. "In the last time, the payment bills were also very high. That's why the payment was stopped.
According to him, now if there is a special initiative from the state government level, the problem of payment will be solved. We are a law enforcement agency. If there is a special initiative from the state government, the problem of payment will be solved," he said.
