State contractors’ association to hold strike over pending bills on March 6

Upset over the inordinate delay in payment of pending bills to the tune of ₹37,370 crore, the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association (KSCA) has decided to launch a massive strike on March 6.

Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on February 19, State president of the association R. Manjunath said the government has not cleared dues amounting to ₹37,370 crore, pending in various departments, with some payments pending for nearly three years.

He said contractors in the State were facing severe financial difficulties owing to delayed fund releases, despite repeated representations.

Mr. Manjunath said the association had submitted around 100 letters to the government, but there had been little response. He urged the Chief Minister to hold an official meeting with contractors and the department officials concerned, stating that such a discussion could resolve 75% of the issues.

He said a similar problem of delayed fund release had arisen during 2013–18, but it was resolved through loan arrangement. However, now, no such step had been taken.

He said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had earlier talked about discontinuing the package system upon coming to power. However, now, the package system is still continuing. Projects where funds are readily available are being awarded to contractors from outside the State, while local contractors are forced to wait for their payment for years. Many contractors who had taken loans to complete projects are facing hardships, he said.

If the dues are not cleared and the issues remain unresolved, contractors will intensify the protest and stop work completely from April, he warned.

The strike, which was earlier scheduled for March 5, had been rescheduled to March 6 on the advice of the police, he said.

Responding to Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s allegation of blackmail, he said the remark was due to a misunderstanding and they had already spoken to him to clarify that their only demand was the payment of workers’ dues.

Mr. Manjunath said that there are unpaid bills in several departments, amounting to ₹8,370 cr in the Public Works Department, ₹13,000 cr in the Water Resources Department; ₹3,800 cr in RDPR; ₹3,000 cr in the Minor Irrigation department; ₹2,000 cr in the Urban Development department; ₹2,600 cr in the Housing department; ₹2,000 cr in the Labour department; and ₹2,600 cr in the Greater Bengaluru Authority.

He said ₹1,400 crore was due to be paid to the contractors in Dharwad district. Vice-presidents M.K. Mulla and Gurusidappa and other office bearers including B.C. Dinesh, Suresh Bamreddy, Sanka Goudshani, and others were present.