Printers wait for govt to clear Rs 250cr bill for two sets of books

News from Indiatimes

SIVAKASI: Sivakasi printers, caught in the uniform school syllabus row, are a worried lot as there is uncertainty over whether the government would settle their dues of Rs 250 crore.

The government owes about Rs 50 crore to 35 printers, who are members of the Tamil Nadu Textbook Printers' Association, for printing textbooks under the common syllabus system. Those orders were placed by the erstwhile DMK government and the final settlement is pending. The DMK government had already paid Rs 150 crore to the printers before demitting office, said one of the printers.

The present AIADMK government, after scrapping the common syllabus system, placed fresh orders for printing textbooks under the old syllabus. Once again, the total bill ran to Rs 200 crore. The government wanted printers to adhere to stringent conditions like providing bank guarantee, insurance and security deposit for bagging the order. Despite the printers fulfilling these, the government has not released payment on time, said another printer. In the textbook printers' association, there are only three major printers, the remaining are medium and small players. The leading players also give sub contracts to small printers, said a member.

Of the nine crore books that were ordered by the new government, only two crore books have been completed and released to the government. The remaining seven crore books have been printed, but are in the finishing stages of binding. The initial lot of books was dispatched to godowns at Kappalur and Kochadai, near Madurai. "But even for the books that we have released, we have got only 20% of the payment. There is no word from the government as to when the remaining 80% will come," said an association office bearer.

"Now, with the court ordering the state government to implement the common syllabus, we are worried whether the government will pay us our dues for the old syllabus books. We are not able to even escalate the matter to the court, because if we do so, the government will not give future orders to us," said a printer.

The common syllabus books, which were distributed earlier to various schools, have been kept under lock and key.