The contractors who had worked for the Roads and Building (R&B) department, Thursday staged protest against the authorities for ‘failing o release their payment’.The agitating contractors also locked down the Chief Engineer R&B’s office to mark a protest against ‘nonpayment of pending bills worth Rs 263 crores.Shouting Slogans against state Govt and Chief Engineer, the agitating contractors told KNS that they have completed the work of macdamisation and other things of flood hit roads in 2015 but unfortunately the government so far failed to release their payment.President JKCCC, Ghulam Jeelani Burza told KNS that after they locked down the Chief Office in March 2016, the pending bills in the department worth 200 crores were released by the authorities.He said, “We were promised that remaining bills worth Rs 263 crores will be released before 31st March 2017 but unfortunately no pending bill has been released thereby the authorities forced us again to lock down the office again.”He said that the authorities must release their pending bills at earliest. “In case the authorities fail to release the pending bills, we will take extreme step for which the government will be held responsible,” Burza added.The agitating contractors later appealed the concerned minister to look into the matter and fulfill their demands as soon as possible. (KNS)