Contractors flay delay in bills clearance

CHITRAL: The Government Contractors Association (GCA) on Wednesday accused the district account officer (DAO), Chitral, of corrupt practices and demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and accountant general to transfer him. Talking to reporters, the contractors association chairman Mughalbaz Khan and president Noor Ahmad Khan said that the DAO was not clearing bills of contractors without greasing his palm.

They said that hundreds of labourers were deprived of their wages due to non-payment to the contractors caused by the delay.

They alleged that the attitude of the official with contractors was unbecoming, unjust and illegal. They said that their payment bills were being delayed through various tactics. The contractors complained that they supplied fire wood and other emergency equipment to the government hospitals in Chitral during the coronavirus outbreak but the official did not pass their bills yet. The contractors demanded an impartial probe into alleged malpractices of the official.