Pending government payments estimated at around ₹50,000 crore have stalled infrastructure and public utility projects across Bengal, the eastern centre of the Builders’ Association of India (BAI) said at a news conference on Saturday, urging the state government to speed up its review of contracts and release funds for cleared work.
The association said the dues relate to roads, embankments, houses, water pipelines and other projects commissioned by agencies including the public works department, public health engineering department, irrigation department and civic bodies. Raja Mukherjee, secretary of the BAI’s eastern centre, said the amount had been pending as of May this year and that contractors were receiving payments only on a case-to-case basis.
The payment freeze was announced after Bengal’s new government took office. It covers pending contractor payments across 128 civic bodies and municipal corporations while projects undergo a comprehensive review. The government has described the exercise as a check on alleged kickbacks, substandard construction and irregular tenders awarded under the previous administration.
Mukherjee said projects that clear the review were receiving funds, but the slow release of money had stopped several works and placed contractors under financial pressure. He added that contractors should not be held responsible for irregularities in tenders issued by the previous government. The BAI said some payments had remained pending for more than 10 years.
Among the affected programmes are the Jal Jeevan Mission, which seeks to provide safe drinking water to rural households, Pathasree, a road infrastructure initiative, and Paray Samadhan, which includes drainage, water supply, street lighting and public toilet projects. The association said delays in these works were affecting both contractors and the communities expected to use the infrastructure.
BAI members also alleged that tender conditions had previously been diluted, allowing bidders they described as lacking adequate capability to secure government contracts by quoting substantially below estimated costs. Rajib Manna, chairman of the eastern centre, said such bidding made it difficult for established contractors to compete without incurring losses. These claims were made by the association and were not independently established in the information available.
The association has sought clearance of pending bills, a revised schedule of rates, a shorter defect liability period, the removal of government royalties on materials such as sand and stone, and changes to the contractor-selection process. It wrote to chief minister Suvendu Adhikari in late July but said it had not received a formal response, although it remained in contact with chief engineers in different departments.
The schedule of rates is used by government agencies to calculate construction and repair costs, based on standard unit rates, labour wages and material specifications. Mukherjee said the state PWD had revised its schedule in line with the Central Public Works Department after the earlier schedule remained unchanged since 2017. The BAI said it expected other government agencies to adopt the revised references.
A senior state government official said the immediate focus was a strict review of projects whose tenders had been awarded during the six months before May 2026. The official response, as reported, did not provide a timeline for completing the review or for clearing the total dues claimed by the association.
The condition of Kolkata’s roads was also raised at the meeting. S.K. Basu, a veteran BAI member and former national president, said repairs carried out shortly before the festival season often deteriorated because bitumen work was undertaken during a period when water and rainfall could affect the surface. The association is scheduled to observe Engineers’ Day on September 15, when several ministers are expected to attend.
