KOCHI: The Government Contractors Association (GCA) has urged the state government to urgently intervene to resolve the problems faced by the contractors.

Association state president K K Radhakrishnan and secretary K D George, in a statement, said the government contractors are facing several issues, including non-payment of GST by the government on their bills, unfair rise in cement price, delay in payments, stipulated guarantee payment in advance of the 5 per cent of the contract amount, increase in stamp duty on agreement and the still-high price of crusher products even after GST is lowered.

According to the GCA, the non-payment of GST by the government on their bills and the delay in payments have forced them to pay the GST from their own pockets. Though they had staged a strike against this two years ago, nothing has materialised, the statement said.

“Every year, from November to March, companies drastically increase the price of cement. They want to exploit the surge in demand due to the plan-fund jobs from the government during the financial year ending season. In two months, the price of 50-kg bag of cement increased from `345 to `400. In fact, they should have decreased the price when demand increases,” the statement said.