Contractors Stage Protest at Bhopal Water Authority Over Unpaid Bills

Contractors working on the Single Village Scheme staged a dharna outside the engineer-in-chief's office at Jal Bhawan in Bhopal on Wednesday, demanding payment of their outstanding dues. Their bills have remained pending since June, causing financial hardship. The delays were attributed to alleged differences between additional director finance Anju Singh and engineer-in-chief Sanjay Andhawan, which disrupted file processing. A show-cause notice was previously issued to Singh.

Jal Nigam Board managing director VS Chaudhary Kolsani assured the protesting contractors that their issues would be resolved within a stipulated timeframe. The engineer-in-chief has issued instructions to all division chiefs for clearing pending payments. Dues related to completed schemes since 2018-21 will be settled within the next month, while instructions have also been issued for payments under other heads and transfer of completed projects to concerned panchayats.