Hyderabad: Contractors locked government schools in parts of the Mahabubabad and Warangal districts on Saturday. They demanded immediate payment of long-pending Manaur-Manabadi bills for development works completed under the scheme.
In the Mahabubabad district, contractor Dhara Singh locked the government school at Chinnagudur mandal headquarters and staged a protest. Speaking to the media, he said the government high school and primary school in Chinnagudur were selected under the state’s development programme back in 2022 and were still waiting for the Manabadi Manaur bills to be cleared.
He said development works worth Rs 4.50 lakh were completed as per norms. However, the bills had not been cleared even after three years. He alleged that repeated representations to officials yielded no response and demanded the immediate release of the pending amount related to the Manaur-Manabadi bills scheme.
Manaur-Manabadi bills protest spreads to Warangal
A similar protest was reported from Lingapuram village in Chennaraopet mandal of Warangal district. There, former SMC chairman Namidla Suresh locked the government school and demanded a settlement for the bills pending under Manaur-Manabadi.
Addressing the protest, he alleged that the Congress government had failed to clear the dues even after two years of coming to power. Moreover, he warned that contractors and school committees would be forced to intensify their agitation if the government did not respond. For this reason, settlement of bills was a key demand at the rally.
The protests led to disruption at the affected schools. Contractors insisted that no further cooperation would be extended unless the outstanding bills were cleared without delay. Officials are yet to issue a formal response to the protests.