Himalayan Times (1954)

Eight- ftgimntagKn i?j.nci> May 30, lOji

WORKS & BUILDING DEPARTMENT
" A WRONG RIGHTED '■'

■ Previously, complaints poured forth
from various quarters that contractors
engaged in Government work under the
Works & Building Department,* .were not
getting adequate support from the divi-
sional Oifiice. Inordinate delays in passing
and payment of bills in respect, of work
done was the chief grievance.

The peculiar characteristic of this
type of business represented risks which
did not encourage private investors to
put "capital in it.' What happens then ?
How was the contractor to tide over
the period interevening between the
period of one bill and another ? He
either looked for direct Government assis-
tance to pay his bill in time or else
stopped his work. His problem ibecarue
acute. Later he faced the ordeal of
being penalised and perhaps, df being
black-listed. He was ostracised by labour
too. In short he soon became a finan-
cial wreck. •' fy ,•

Luckily, however a man has come
to the helm of affairs who has organi-
sed .the system of progress payments in
a manner particularly beneficial to con-
tractors and labour alike. The modifica-
tion of the payment policy has gone a
long way towards increasing the energy
and .efficiency'- of labour and contractor,
thereby spteding up the performance of
orders. It has facilitated in ample mea-
sure the solution of the problem. It
has even helped to plough back many
into this business.

Where once banks were guided by
business considerations alone in granting
financial facilities and were not prepared
to extend such facilities against the mere
knowledge that the borrowing firms were
working on Government account, today
the demand for -credit on the part of
this sector of the banks' clientele is

> FACTS & FIGURES

New Delhi, May 25

1. In 16,373 accidents involving
motor vehicles which occured in India
during 1952 53, 1,841 persons lost their
lives and 13,521 sustained injuries.

2. Air-conditioned accommodation
is available on 22 trains on the Indian
Railway sy.-tem. On 14 of them it is
provided daily, on two five days a week,
and on the remaining six twice a week.

3. Out of 56,762 persons who
went overseas fiom India by ship during
1953 approximately one-third travelled
by Indian ships.

SALES TAX ON INTER-STATE TRADE

( Gontinued from page 7 )
Court judgement, except in those States
and in those cases only where outside
dealers had specified notice of liability
to pay such tax and had or Bhould have
recovered it from their purchaser?. As
regards transantions after Supieme Court
judgement, some of the States have de-
decided to collect the tax from April 1,
1953. while many other States have agreed
to collect it only from January 1, 1954

immediately granted. The provisicn of
working capital thus has, to some extent,
reduced the demand for the banks'
advances from the contracting clientele.
In other words a contractor can now
stand on his own legs and reap a profit.

At no time has there been such
relief and the Executive Engineer of
this district should be congratulated for
his recognition of a wrong. He has
proved a valuable medium and his prin-
ciples and practices have firstly, speeded
up working programmes; secondly, given
an impetus for financial backing: thirdly,
facilitated, not hampered, the efficiency
of his department. A wrong has
been righted. —Jhon Jackson.