NAWABSHAH, May 14: The sub-contractors of the Eco-West International Private Limited Company held a protest demonstration in front of the National Highway Authority’s office on the National Highway, near Sakrand, on Wednesday against the company for not paying their bills worth Rs40 million and not giving their income tax return documents.

The sub-contractors had been awarded a contract of the Hala-Moro highway project by the National Highway Authority.

The sub-contractors, including Haji Umeed Ali, Mohammad Aslam, Mohammad Hanif, Arshad Ali, Mohammad Muslim, Mohammad Rafi, Anwar Khan, A. Dino, Ghulam Sarwar, Hussain and Mohammad Nasir, also held a sit-in outside the Nawabshah Press Club demanding that their bills be paid.

Later, while talking to newsmen, they said that the Hala-Moro highway project was awarded by the National Highway Authority to the Eco-West International in the year 2000 for the construction of a 134-km-long highway.

They said that the company had hired the services of 157 sub-contractors for supplying various materials, and added that they continued their supply for which an income tax of 3.5 per cent was deducted from their payments.

They said that they were never given any income tax return documents and payments in excess of Rs40 million were stopped, and when they asked for it, they were threatened with dire consequences.