Bengaluru civic contractors protest over pending dues, Shivakumar says 'planned' stir

Civic contractors in Bengaluru held protests over pending dues from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). A delegation of the contractors met Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot and submitted a memorandum detailing their woes.

Some contractors also hinted that corruption had a role to play in the delay of payments.

Reacting to such claims, Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar said the protests were planned. “It was planned by my political opponents. I know who all are behind this. I wish them all the best. People have given us the mandate to remove corruption. Lokayukta has given us a report. There are so many cases where, without doing work, the contractors have minted money,” he said.

Assuring the contractors, he said, “Only the contractors who have not done any work are frightened. Whoever has done the work, need not worry about it. They will be paid.”

The office bearers of the Bangalore Municipal Corporation Working Contractors Association met former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to brief him about the non-payment of outstanding bills for the works done by them under the BBMP for the last 26 months.

One of the contractors told India Today, “We have submitted a memorandum to Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, which mentions our issues in detail. Many of us are unable to run our households because of a lack of money. Some have also sought mercy killing.”

MEMORANDUM TO GOVERNOR

In the memorandum, the contractors wrote, “The government circulars that were issued by the previous government directing them to withhold payments have been recalled unconditionally by virtue of another circular. It appears that the BBMP is deliberately and directly contravening the directions of the government for the sake of considerations that are not known to us. Our pleas have fallen on deaf cars.”

They also wrote, “On an estimate, the pending payments to the contractors under government grant is about Rs 3,000 crores and under the BBMP grant is about Rs 2,500 crores. The bills have been kept on hold for the past 30 months and the conduct of BBMP is abhorrent and is against the very tenets of the public interest.”