I know contractors’ pain, but no one can threaten the government: D.K. Shivakumar

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After meeting representatives of the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association and Greater Bengaluru Authority Contractors’ Association on Saturday, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said, “I can understand the pain of contractors, but no one can threaten the government.”

Responding to the media, he said, “During the tenure of the BJP government in the State, more work was taken up than the Budget permitted, which has increased the problem. I have cleared as many bills as possible. The contractors here are not the only ones affected, they are spread across the State.”

“For instance, in the Irrigation Department, which comes under my portfolio, there is a grant of about ₹200 crore, but pending bills amount to ₹17,000 crore. With just ₹200 crore available, whose bills should be cleared and under which account?” he questioned.

New system

“Small contractors have pending bills ranging from ₹15 lakh to ₹1 crore, while large contractors have dues up to ₹2,000 crore. All of them are exerting immense pressure, so it’s impossible to meet everyone’s demands. That’s why I plan to introduce a new system,” he said, without elaborating the system he intended to introduce.

Further he said that the contractors raised the issue of commission. “I told them to file a complaint and that we would conduct an inquiry into it. No one can threaten the government over demands for commission in the release of bills. The contractors are now saying that they did not make any allegations regarding the commission issue,” he said.

Contractors’ claims

Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association claimed that the Deputy Chief Minister had directed officials to immediately clear bills up to ₹50 lakh in all four corporations under the Water Resources Department.

In a statement, G.M. Ravindra, general secretary of the association, said that the Deputy Chief Minister instructed officials to take prompt action to settle bills up to ₹50 lakh in all four corporations under the Water Resources Department.

On Friday, the association warned that it would release a ‘corruption report card’ on the State government in December if the pending amount of ₹33,000 crore from the past two years is not cleared within a month.