Puducherry PWD contractors threaten to boycott all works

PUDUCHERRY: The Builders' Association of India (BAI), Puducherry centre, has decided to boycott all the works until the chief secretary, chief engineer (public works), and secretary (works) address their grievances.
The members of the Puducherry centre of BAI demanded that the government update the Puducherry schedule of rates (PSR), which is an index of the rate of various raw materials used in the construction industry.The PSR has not been updated since 2020, they argued.
"The PSR book is used for estimation of private building, valuation in banks and to settle disputes. The secretary (works) has to either verify the rates and release the PSR and cannot keep it in limbo for nine months. This shows the officials are not proactive in decision making," said BAI's Puducherry centre secretary R Premananth.
The association said trouble began when the public works department introduced a new system of bidding, which is 'feasible only for big sharks and big companies' from other states. It argued that the contractors enlisted in the PWD in Puducherry are eligible to undertake projects with an upper limit of Rs 20 crore (Class I). But the department has reduced the upper limit to Rs 15 crore.
The association argued that the bid capacity system was against the Central Public Works Department's (CPWD) manual, which is the rule book for PWD, Puducherry.
"...the secretaries have flouted the CPWD manual for their inexplicable and ostensible reasons of weeding out the local contractors. The contractors’ demand is they are eligible for works costing up to Rs 20 crore without any pre-qualification criteria," said the association.
The local contractors here have executed most of the major works in the territory including the old government hospital building and the existing chief secretariat all overhead tanks and all school buildings existing today. "The local contractors contend that they are well equipped to execute works up to Rs 20 crore based on experience," the association said.