Contractors are again on a collision course with the Karnataka government. While the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) contractors have stopped work, demanding immediate clearance of pending bills, contractors across the State have also warned that they may tread the same path if bills are not cleared soon. The pending bills, cumulatively, have mounted to about ₹25,000 crore in the State.
Amid allegations by Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy that Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has been demanding a “commission” to clear bills, D. Kempanna, president of the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association, who led the association’s fight against the previous regime’s “40% commission”, spoke to The Hindu on their demands right now.
Edited excerpts:
You made a startling allegation of “40% commission” against the previous BJP government, which the Congress, then in the Opposition, made one of the poll planks and came to power. Mr. Kumaraswamy has now alleged that Mr. Shivakumar has demanded “commission”. There is also a video of a contractor making similar allegations. Have there been demands for “commission” under the Congress government too?
We do not wish to make allegations without clear grounds. It has only been three months since this government came to power and not many new tenders have been called. But at least to date, no contractor has come to the association complaining that Ministers or officials have been demanding commission under this regime. However, the problem is that pending bills which run to the tune of over ₹25,000 crore are not being cleared. This is across departments, a lion’s share in the Water Resources and Bengaluru Development departments. So, presently, our grouse is not corruption but non-clearance of pending bills.
Some contractors have sought the intervention of the Governor to get the pending bills cleared. Why has the situation come to this?
We had met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who also holds the charge of Finance, on clearing pending bills. He cited challenges in financing guarantee schemes and sought some time to mobilise resources to clear these pending bills. But Mr. Shivakumar has now instituted inquiries into earlier works carried out in Bengaluru, for which bills are pending. As per our estimates, there are pending bills for the past 26 months, to the tune of over ₹4,000 crore in the BBMP alone. This inquiry will delay the clearing of bills further, pushing the contractors who are already in dire straits into further debt trap. This move is only penalising contractors for the corruption that we have been fighting against. Moreover, how will the government now check the quality of works that are three to four years old?
Are you against inquiry into the works then?
More than the inquiry, our grouse is holding back our payments. We appeal to the government to clear 80% of the amount in each bill, withholding 20%, till the inquiry is completed. Holding back payment for the entire bill will make our lives very difficult, as these bills have been pending for two to three years now.
What is your next course of action?
The executive committee of the association is meeting on Friday to chart out the next course of struggle. When we made allegations of corruption against the previous regime, we were called stooges of the Congress. But the very fact that we are also fighting against the Congress government shows that our struggle is to safeguard the interests of contractors. BBMP contractors have stopped work till their bills are cleared, as a protest. We will take the campaign to all the districts, and if need be, we may also be forced to stop work.
