“SUCCESSFUL DISCUSSION WITH THE STATE GOVT.“
Bhubaneswar, 7th March 2026 : All Odisha Contractors Welfare Association (AOCWA) today announced the withdrawal of its long 14-day long protest after a successful discussion with Sri Prithviraj Harichandan, Minister, Works, Law and Excise Department, Govt Of Odisha.
Three major organisations representing approximately 70,000 contractors— staged protest since 20th February 2026 against the State Government to fulfil their 8-point charter of demands.
The representatives of All Odisha Contractors Welfare Association (AOCWA) met Sri Prithviraj Harichandan, minister at Lok Seva Bhawan to discuss on the demands and finally, the government has accepted the demands. All the demands of the contractors’ association were discussed one by one in details.
Key Demands:
- Cancellation of Circular: Immediate withdrawal of Works Department Circular No. 07764600022025173 (dated 03.01.2026) and Limiting the Coating of its to SoR that is 0.00% of the base price.
There will be no caping and Govt will strengthen the APS.
- S.O.R. Fixation: Regular annual fixation of the Schedule of Rates (S.O.R.) as per codal provisions if not yearly increment of 15% over SoR each Year.
Govt will give new notification by 15th April. Every year Govt will issue a new notification on SOR in accordance to the CPWD prices.
- Increase in Tender Limit: Raising the maximum tender value for Short Tender Call Notices from ₹5 lakhs to ₹10 lakhs.
The maximum tender value for Short Tender Call Notices will remain ₹5 lakhs
- One State, One Law: Implementation of a uniform Standard Bidding Document (SBD) across the state with the inclusion of an Arbitration Clause.
State Govt will work on this and notify within the next 2 months.
- Mineral Resource Issues: Preparation of a list of functional mines and clear mention of the specific mine name in tender documents.
Since this is under the purview of the Department of Mines so the concerned Departments will discuss with the Department of Mines and find out a solution.
- Penalty Waiver: Abolition of per-day penalty system during Sanction the extension of Time. The State Govt will consider this sympathetically.
- Price Escalation Accounting: Finalization of Escalation bill payment occurred between 2012 and 2019.
The State Govt is working on this to find out a solution with in a short period.
- WAMIS Transfer: To eliminate undue delays due to WAMIS management maintained by Rural Development Department, to be transferred to the Parent Department that is Works Department’s e-Procurement Cell.
The State Govt is working on this to find out a solution with in a week.
Odisha Contractors Welfare Association President Sri Jagdish Patra stated that the association has withdrawn its agitation following successful discussions with the government. We are now awaiting the official notification from Govt. of Odisha regarding this matter. We are thankful to Sri Prithviraj Harichandan, Minister, Works, Law and Excise Department, Govt of Odisha, Sri Babu Singh, MLA, Ekamra Bhubaneswar, Sri Jagannath Pradhan, Advisor, AOCWA, Media persons, all the contractors across the districts of Odisha for their support in finding out a solution for the Contractors Fraternity.
