Srinagar, May 5: The Military Engineering Services (MES) Contractors of Valley and Leh held protest demonstrations today against non-release of their bills.
 Raising slogans against department concerned, the protesters alleged that their bills were pending for past two years.
 “Despite apprising authorities on the issue several times, there is no response,” they said.
 Chairman MES association Muhammad Afzal Wani said the contractors were facing acute problems due to non-release of their bills.
 “With no money in hand, we are not in a position to feed our families,” he said.
  “We raised money from here and there and invested in various projects. We completed these projects on the assurance that money will be released in favour without much delay, but that has not happened,” they said.
 The protesters marched at Sonawar and Batwara. The contractors also submitted a memorandum to the chief engineer Srinagar zone and copies of memorandum were also sent to various quarters including GOC 15 corps.
 Muhammad Saleem Thakur secretary and Shoukat Ahmed Dar vice -chairman of the branch addressed the protesting contractors.
 The protesters threatened to intensify their agitation and boycott all works if the government did not release their money immediately.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 5 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 5 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 6 May 2010 00:00:00 IST