‘Don’t provoke us, chief minister’: Karnataka contractors’ body demands clearing Rs 37K crore dues; threatens stir

Of the various government departments, outstanding dues were highest in the Water Resources Department, which was yet to clear dues to the tune of Rs 13,000 crore, followed by the Public Works Department with Rs 8,370 crore dues. Other departments with high dues were Urban Development and Minor Irrigation Departments, respectively, KSCA said.

G M Nandakumar, General Secretary, KSCA, alleged that tender approvals of the Urban Development department were being run by middlemen. “Corruption has doubled in some departments,” he said. KSCA, it can be recalled, had levelled the “40 per cent commission” allegation against the previous BJP government.

Urban Development and Town Planning Minister Byrathi Suresh, meanwhile, criticised KSCA, accusing it of “shooting in the air” without providing any evidence to back their claims. “Ministers have no role in awarding contracts. Everything is carried out in a transparent manner,” he said.

“If there is any evidence related to these allegations, let Manjunath produce it,” the minister told reporters.

Manjunath, he said, had personally requested him to release pending funds from the Urban Development Department. “After obtaining approval from the Finance Department, Rs 200 crore of pending payments were released in phases,” he said.