RAWALPINDI, Jan 16: The row between the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board and some of its contractors over non-payment of dues has taken a turn for the worse as the former has refused to award contracts to the latter for the current year.

The contractors claim that they have faced discrimination in the award of contracts, worth about Rs50 million, a week ago. All this was done to penalize those contractors who had filed petition against the board in the court for failing to pay their dues for the last five years, they alleged.

The RCB officials, they further alleged, had been pressurising them to withdraw the case filed against them in the high court. “They have warned us that our names will not be included in the list of contractors, if we do not withdraw the case,” they claimed.

The contractors also alleged that the RCB officials pressurized them for paying bribes, adding that only those people were awarded contracts who agreed to pay commission and kickbacks.

The contractors have written letters to the defence minister, Rawalpindi corps commander, the National Accountability Bureau, director general of Military Lands and Cantonments, Federal Ombudsman and director general of FIA, requesting them to check the assets and accounts of the RCB officials and investigate allegations of embezzlement against them. They also called for cancelling the tenders awarded on January 10 and holding the auction in a fair manner.

When contacted, the RCB spokesman denied the allegations, saying it was a propaganda against the board management. He said an FIR would be registered against those involved in baseless campaign against the board administration.

He said the contractors, who had been excluded from the list, were ‘professional litigants’ and had a track record of poor performance. All the contractors, he said, had been invited to participate in the auction and the contracts were awarded in a fair competition.

The spokesman said 15 firms qualified for participation in the tendering process, out of which only eight applied for issuance of tender notice and quoted rates on January 10 and 11. The rates so received will be placed before the board in its next meeting for appropriate decision.