A group of contractors who were banned by Roads and Highways Department (RHD) over the last year for indulging in forgeries to secure contracts are now putting pressure on the authority to withdraw their ban.

They even threatened to besiege the RHD headquarters unless the authority withdraws the ban, which has debarred 47 contractors in the past year and demanded that RHD halt all ongoing work until their demands are met.

These contractors were among the highest beneficiaries, in terms of securing contracts, under the Sheikh Hasina-led government.

On Sunday, under the banner of RHD's Affected Contractors' Coordination Committee, the group submitted a memorandum to the RHD chief engineer, incorporating 10 demands, and gave him three days to meet those demands.

In this situation, the chief engineer today held a meeting with the contractors to discuss their demands.

According to RHD sources, 44 contractors were banned between February and July this year for different periods for indulging in different kinds of forgeries to secure contracts. They will not be allowed to participate in any RHD bidding processes during the ban period.

Thirteen contractors, upon filing a writ with the High Court, got a stay against the debarred order, meaning the debarred order is still valid for 31 contractors, they said.

The contractors, who were banned by the RHD, benefited greatly under the former AL government, obtaining a large number of contracts over the past one and a half decades.

According to sources, the banned contractors had allegedly engaged in malpractice in collusion with a section of unscrupulous officials of the RHD and influential people linked to the previous government.

RHD documents show 41 out of 44 contractors secured 40,231 contracts amounting to Tk 83,178.5 crore during the last 13 years (fiscal years 2011-12 to 2023-24).

On Sunday, the memorandum submitted by the Coordination Committee was signed by nine contractors -- Reliable Builders Ltd, National Development Engineers Ltd (NDE), M/S Saleh Ahmed, Masud Hi-Tech Engineering Ltd, Sagar Info Builders Ltd, J Enterprise, Md Khurshaduzzaman, Hassan Techno Builders Ltd and M/S MA Engineering.

All nine were among the banned contractors, shows the document.

Contacted, RHD Chief Engineer Syed Moinul Hasan said they have asked the contractors to settle the debarment issue with the court.

Asked about their other demands, he said they will speak with them again and solve the issues through discussion.

However, meeting sources said RHD officials expressed discontent over the language of the memorandum submitted by the contractors.

RHD will scrutinise the demands and see if they are logical. Then the points will be taken to the ministry, said one participant, requesting anonymity.

The Daily Star could not contact any of the signatories to the memorandum.