Vadodara: With Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd (DPIL) managing director Amit Bhatnagar in trouble following an FIR of Rs 2,654 crore bank fraud, vendors of ‘Switch Expo’ of which he was a prominent organizer, have started speaking up about alleged payment defaults for services provided for the event.
The event jointly promoted by Gujarat government's department of energy and petrochemicals and Federation of Gujarat Industries (FGI) was held in October 2016. Rains ahead of the event had, however, played spoilsport and the venue could be put in order for the expo on the eve of the inauguration.
While the event was eventually held, some who had provided material or services for it were left high and dry. With Bhatnagar going underground, such vendors have started surfacing.
A city-based travel operator Dinesh Patel, who was a partner in a contractor for providing cars and buses for the event, said that out of a bill of Rs 65lakh, they were paid Rs 32lakh while an amount of Rs 33 lakh is still pending.
“We had multiple meetings and the last one was held in March, but are yet to get payments. There are several persons like us who are struggling for their payments,” claimed Patel. He added that in the meeting held around March 12, he was promised a payment within a few days.
Qayyum Memon, who did major printing jobs for the event, said that he was asked to do work without charging profit as it was in the interest of the city. But eventually he was paid Rs 57 lakh against a bill of Rs 70lakh and is yet to get the remaining amount. “The prices were even audited by a team of three persons. We worked honestly charging only our costs and even these have not been paid,” he said.
Another travels operator Alpesh Gandhi, who also has hotels said that rooms were blocked in his facilities for the event. “Some people came to stay while some rooms had remained vacant. We are yet to get a payment of Rs six lakhs towards to blocked rooms,” he said.
