
BENGALURU: Various development works, including the whitetopping of major roads, in Bengaluru are likely to come to a grinding halt as contractors have threatened to go on strike over pending bills of a whopping Rs 3,850 crore. The BBMP Contractors’ Association along with the Karnataka Contractors’ Association (KCA) has given a week’s time, starting January 13, to the government to clear the dues.
KCA members said the pending bills for works across Karnataka are over Rs 32,000 crore. Speaking to TNIE, Nanda Kumar, president of the BBMP Contractors’ Association said, “Apart from the works taken up for the BBMP, we also take up works in the city to which grants are provided by the state government. Now, the BBMP’s pending bill amount has touched Rs 1,850 crore and the dues from the state government are around Rs 2,000 crore.” He added that the dues are pertaining to the works taken up in 2021.
Kumar said after their protest in the past, partial payments were made in July 2023. “When they started to clear the dues for the works done in 2021, BBMP withheld 25 per cent of the total amount,” he said. He claimed that the withheld amount is to the tune of Rs 1,350 crore, which includes the amount withheld for the works done with the state government grants as well.
A contractor said only when there was a protest, the BBMP and the government took up the issue seriously and cleared the pending dues. He added that it will be inevitable for them to go on a strike as they have borrowed huge loans for the works from banks and money lenders and they cannot stretch it any further.