BENGALURU: The Karnataka State Contractors’ Association, which has set a deadline of 30 days to the state government to clear at least 50% of the Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 crore dues of contractors, on Friday said that it will launch a statewide protest if its demands are not fulfilled by then.
This is the second deadline the association has set. It had set August 30 as the deadline for the government to clear the dues. “If the government fails to fulfil our demands, we have no other option but to launch an agitation. We wrote four letters to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to clear our dues, but the government did nothing,” association president D Kempanna told reporters here.
He alleged that except the Public Works Department (PWD), no other department maintains a seniority list in clearing the bills of contractors.
Referring to the reported attempts to suicide by contractors in Belagavi and Hubballi, Kempanna claimed that he has been receiving calls from some agrieved contractors that they too will take the extreme step. “Ayudha Puja is a big festival for contractors and the government should take steps to clear their dues at the earliest,” he said.
“We will once again write to the CM and also to the PM, though the latter did not respond to us when we wrote to him earlier,” Kempanna said.
On clearing a mere 7% of the contractors’ dues, Kempanna clarified that it will not help them as they have to pay 18% GST on that amount.
Kempanna had accused some ministers and officials in the previous BJP government of demanding 40% commission to clear the dues of contractors. The Congress party made this an issue during the May 10 Assembly elections and set up the HN Nagamohan Das Commission to probe this allegation after coming to power.
Asked if some ministers in the Congress government sought commission to clear the dues, Kempanna said no contractor has complained in this regard so far. Most of the projects have been allotted to contractors from other states, especially from Andhra Pradesh. When there is no work allotted to our contractors, there is no demand for commission,” he alleged.
On the Income Tax Department’s raid on contractor Ambikapathy in Bengaluru where Rs 42 crore was seized on Friday, Kempanna clarified that he stopped working as a contractor eight years ago.
“Ambikapathy is now into many ventures such as farming and quarrying. Let the law take its own course,” he said.
In a press release, the association demanded that the government take steps to release at least 50% of the outstanding dues within a month. “It should not delay it on the pretext of the Das Commission’s investigation. Protests will be staged at all district headquarters of the State, including Bengaluru,” the association said.