Scores of contractors Thursday staged protest at Kupwara against the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Irrigation Flood Control (I&FC) Roads and Building (R&B) building for failing to release their pending bills.The contractors assembled outside the PHE office Kupwara and were chanting slogans against the department.They told KNS that the departments have failed to release pending bills from 2014. “We are facing hardships as the departments have not released our bills from past two years. The authorities should release our bills at earliest before Eid,” they said.The contractors said that the authorities are doing sheer injustice with them which are also affecting developmental works in the district.Bills worth crores are pending with government departments which are not released for unknown reasons from past two year.“We appeal the higher authorities to intervene into the matter and fulfil the genuine demands of contractors at earliest,” they said.Meanwhile, the protesters dispersed peacefully. (KNS)