Conflict between the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and its

The ongoing conflict between the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and its electrical contractors association has finally been resolved, following assurance by civic authorities that they will clear all the pending bills within a month.

The contractors did not switch on streetlights on Friday causing a virtual blackout in twin cities. The contractors resorted to sudden strike to put pressure on the GHMC to clear long pending dues. They were also seeking extension of their contract by one more year. The present contract expired in February.

There are about four lakh streetlights in the city. The GHMC owes Rs 4 crore to the Electrical Contractors' Association.On April 22 the GHMC Electrical Contractors' Association wrote a letter to the civic authorities stating that they would stop maintenance of streetlights from May 1 if the pending bills were not cleared immediately. The striking contractors were arrested for allegedly damaging government property.

GHMC Special Commissioner MT Krishna Babu said "we assured the contractors that we would look into their demands after the election process is completed."

"We have been continuing the work despite the contract period coming to a close, just on the request of the engineers and other officials. They also pointed out it was for the second time the issue was brought to the notice of the Commissioner but no steps were taken to resolve the issue," said Sudheer Agarwal of the association.