Within four months of introducing 23 per cent reservation for SCs and STs in government contracts up to Rs 5 lakh, the state government has initiated an exercise to extend the reservation to contracts of higher value.

The Public Works Department has been asked to propose a new limit on the cost of works, wherein the reservation will be applicable.

Currently, SC and ST contractors get reservation in E category contracts, which have a value up to Rs 5 lakh.

Several departments, however, have found that there are not many E category contracts. They tried to create some new E category contracts by splitting work, but this created a synchronisation problem and parts of the same project had differences in quality.  

Principal Secretary of PWD Kapil Dev said: “The PWD Engineer-in-Chief has been directed to send a proposal of higher cost for E category. This may be done within a week. The proposal will then be sent for the approval of the Cabinet.”

PWD Engineer-in-Chief Tribhuvan Ram said meetings will soon be held with various departments for their suggestions before proposing a new cost limit for E category work.

Earlier, the PWD had sent a proposal to the government for increasing the cost of E category work to Rs 40 lakh.

But the proposal was turned down on the ground that most SC and ST contractors might not be able to mobilise the required resources.

Reservation for SCs and STs in E-category contracts was announced in June by Chief Minister Mayawati.

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