Siliguri, March 26: The caretaker administrator of the DGHC, B.L. Meena, said today the security deposits of the contractors who had left without completing their work would be confiscated.
Meena, who inspected some roads — the construction or repair of which had been abandoned midway — in the past two days, said the contractors had even received the payment in full against the work awarded to them. He added that the security deposits lying with the council would be encashed and the work completed.
The interim head of the hills said the aggregate amount of all the deposits was yet to be ascertained. A contractor, who was assigned the task of developing the Rohini-Kurseong road, had deposited Rs 62 lakh as security.
Meena, who is also the divisional commissioner of the Jalpaiguri division, ruled out the possibility of initiating any other punitive action against the errant contractors.
After a meeting with the officials and engineers of the public health engineering department, Meena said the auditors were calculating how much of the funds — sanctioned for water supply schemes — was left unutilised. The engineers have been instructed to make a list of incomplete schemes that would be executed on a priority basis.
The officials found that Rs 121 crore released for rural electrification was lying unused with the DGHC. Meena said work orders for electrification would be issued only after deciding on the amount each scheme needed.
