Work on key runways, hangars resumes as MoD releases fund

BENGALURU: Work on several key defence projects that had stopped owing to pending bills from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have resumed after the latter sanctioned a quarter of the 2019-20 budget to defence contractors.
Confirming this, Azizullah Khan, senior vice-president, MES Builders Association of India (MESBAI), told TOI: “The MoD has given one-fourth of the money that has been sanctioned by the Centre for this year (2019-20), which we’ve been told to use to clear some backlog. We have started work in most of the places we had suspended implementation. Work is picking up slowly.”
He said that this money has seen about 70% of the Rs 2,000 pending bills owed to contractors by MoD, but refused to give the exact number. As TOI had reported earlier, at least eight runway upgradation projects, including the one at Sulur air base that hosts Tejas, and more than six hangar projects, including the ones being built to hold French Rafale fighter planes in Ambala and Hashimara, were hit because of the pending bills.
Among the runways affected by this were: Sulur, Tambaram, Chandigarh, Sirsa, Palam, Allahabad, Hyderabad, Chabua and Dinzan. The hangars were: Ambala, Hashimara, Sirsa, Kakaikunda, Chabua and Dinzan et al.
"While work has begun now, this is the money meant for the year ahead, cleared in the budget. And if fresh funds don't come, the situation that prevailed last year will again happen this year and there will be more pending bills," Khan said.
The association memebers had earlier told TOI that apart from the runways and hangers, two new military hospitals being built in Udhampur and Pune were also affected by the non-payment of bills, besides some other accommodation projects. Maintenance of cantonments were also hit in the past four months.
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References

1. ^{^} runway upgradation (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

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