BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday assured members of the contractors’ association that he and PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi will facilitate a meeting with the CM to resolve their issues.
Addressing members of the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association, protesting at Freedom Park in Bengaluru, demanding the release of pending bills, he said, “Minister Satish Jarkiholi and I will together arrange a meeting of contractors with the Chief Minister during this session. We must all come together to find a solution to your problems.” He said there are pending bills of around Rs 13,000 crore in the irrigation department and Rs 3,000 crore in Boseraju’s minor irrigation department, totalling to about Rs 37,000 crore.
“We know your pain. Six months before the elections, I had warned you not to take up any contract work in departments where there is no money. Yediyurappa and Bommai kept awarding contracts whether there were funds or not. You took up that work and now you are suffering. This needs to be resolved. We need to find bonds worth around Rs 50,000 crore or some other way. Only then will this problem be solved,” he said.
Alleging that the central BJP government did not give funds for Bengaluru’s development, he urged the contractors’ association to come forward and discuss how funds can be mobilised to resolve the issue. “I, Satish Jarkiholi, and Boseraju have come here to tell you that we are with you,” he added.