The apex association representing contractors has written to seven ministers including Dy CM DK Shivakumar urging them to clear pending bills worth about Rs 30,000 crore related to the contracts they have executed.
The association has sought a resolution in about a week’s time. Association office-bearers have spoken out publicly that sections of MLAs were publicly demanding a cut in the award of contracts.
The demand comes amid reports of suicide of contractors allegedly over pending bills and Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s attacks on the ruling Congress suggesting that the bribe percentage had increased to 60%.
The letter is addressed to rural development minister Priyank Kharge, Housing Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, Minor Irrigation Minister Ns Boseraju, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, social welfare minister HC Mahadevappa, municipal administration minister Rahim Khan, besides Shivakumar.
The association has urged the ministers to hold a meeting with officials on the subject and process the bills. The letter also complains that though the association flagged the issue in the past and wrote letters, they did not receive any reply. The association said it would escalate the demand to chief minister Siddaramaiah and decide on further course of action if the ministers did not act within a week on its demands.
Priyank Kharge said the ministers were in talks with the contractors. The pending bills they were talking about were from the era of the previous government. He, however, added that the contractors were well within their right to protest if they wished.
Opposition leader in the legislative council C Narayanaswamy (BJP) said the government owed Rs 32,000 crore to contractors, and only those with good connections were getting paid.
The letter puts the cash-strapped Siddaramaiah regime in a tight spot as it prepares to present its budget in March.
The Congress party rode to power in the assembly polls in May 2023 after running an aggressive campaign suggesting that the Bommai-led BJP regime had been tainted by “40% cut” it collected from contractors for awarding government contracts. The campaign delivered a body blow to the BJP, and the Opposition parties are seizing upon the opportunity to hurling the same charge at the Congress.
