Fund crunch stalls projects in Palampur

A severe financial crunch has brought development activities to a standstill in the Palampur region, with the Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD) and Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department struggling to release payments to contractors. The delay in disbursement has halted several ongoing and completed projects, causing inconvenience to the public.

According to official sources, the combined outstanding dues in various divisions of PWD and IPH exceed Rs 15 crore. These liabilities pertain to works already completed by contractors, whose bills have been processed but remain unpaid due to the non-issuance of Letters of Credit (LOC) by the state government.

Contractors have been making daily rounds to the offices of Executive Engineers, only to return empty-handed. “Our work is complete, and the bills have been approved and entered in the measurement books. But the executive engineers claim they have no funds to clear the payments due to technical reasons and lack of LOCs,” said one affected contractor.

An executive engineer, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that his division alone has over Rs 3 crore in unpaid bills involving more than 30 contractors. “A majority of these liabilities are related to emergency maintenance works, which were executed without prior budgetary allocation. Without an additional budget, we are unable to make payments,” he said.

He added that senior officials are aware of the situation, but until the government releases additional funds, the engineers are helpless.

In contrast, a senior official from Shimla denied any financial crisis. “The government has allocated adequate funds to all PWD and IPH divisions. Pending payments will be cleared in the coming days,” the official claimed.

However, the ground reality paints a different picture, with halted works and frustrated contractors bearing the brunt of the ongoing financial deadlock.

Himachal Tribune