BENGALURU: Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi said in the Legislative Council on Wednesday that contractors’ pending money will be released in phases after discussions with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Replying to a question by JDS MLC TA Saravana, Satish Jarkiholi said around Rs 9,000 crore has to be paid to contractors who have met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and discussed the release of the money.
The minister said there is budget allocation of Rs 10,023 crore for the Public Works Department and Rs 8,392 crore has been released. The remaining amount of around Rs 1400 crore will be released by March-end. However, there are pending bills worth Rs 8,925 crore for the years 2021 and 2022, and there was no budget allocation for these works.
The minister said his department had already held a meeting with Finance department officials. There was a problem with a large amount of pending money from the previous government’s tenure. However, he said the government will release the pending amount on priority. Speaking earlier, MLC Saravana said that since the money was not released to contractors on time, they have reached the stage of suicide, and claimed they would drink poison.