[ Karyir Riba ]
TEZU, 22 Dec: Leelalu Chai, an entrepreneur from here in Lohit district, sat on an indefinite hunger strike at the Tezu mela ground in protest against non-payment of her dues amounting to more than Rs 1 crore by the A2Z Infra Engineering Limited (A2ZIEL)-a Gurgaon based company.
She alleged that the A2ZIEL has “duped her of Rs 1.3 crore for Defense’s NFS OFC fiber optic cable laying contractual work which she undertook on their behalf.”
Chai said that she had completed 60 percent of the work allotted to her back in 2018, but has not been paid her dues yet.
“It is more than two years and they have not released the due amount of Rs 1.3 crore. The uncleared dues pushed me out of business and are causing me a lot of mental stress and agony. Even after delivering work and multiple follow-ups my due payment has been held back unfairly,” she said.
Chai said that she has knocked on many doors requesting for help, including the Lohit deputy commissioner and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Explaining about the nature of her work she said, “In September 2015, I paid a security deposit of Rs 20 lakh and undertook OFC fiber optic cable laying work from A2Z IEL under the aegis of a local Arunachal company Om Traders for a stretch of 50 km in Walong, one of the remotest areas in Arunachal, situated at an altitude of 1,240 mt. The work was immediately started in October, 2015 and by 2018, work of 10 km on route 2080 and 23 km on route 6081 was completed,” she said.
She added: “I stand to receive Rs 1.4 Crore for the work completed and Rs 20 lakh of my deposit, against which I have till date received only Rs 29.13 lakh.”
Chai said that this unprofessional behaviour of A2ZIEL is causing her tremendous stress.
“I have been pushed out of business, have been pushed into debt and am now at the brink of losing compensation and deposit both, despite the relentless hard work put in”, she said.
Chai said that she has resorted to the hunger strike to get justice and will continue until her pending dues are cleared by the A2ZIEL.
