BENGALURU: Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who met the State Contractors Association on Monday, has agreed to release their pending bills. At the meeting, the CM listened to contractors’ problem and has entrusted the Chief Minister’s economic advisor L K Atheeq and Additional Chief Secretary Tushar Girinath to resolve the issue.
Contractors had earlier warned government that if pending bills are not released within November, they will reveal names of MLAs who have taken bribe in December. In this background, a meeting of office-bearers of State Contractors Association was held on Monday at Chief Minister’s home office ‘Krishna’, in the presence of top officials of variouls departments, the CM listened to the grievances of contractors.
ಇಂದು ಗೃಹ ಕಚೇರಿ ಕೃಷ್ಣಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಗುತ್ತಿಗೆದಾರರ ಸಂಘದ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರಾದ ಶ್ರೀ ಆರ್.ಮಂಜುನಾಥ್ ಹಾಗೂ ಪದಾಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳ ನಿಯೋಗ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಭೇಟಿಯಾಗಿ, ವಿವಿಧ ವಿಚಾರಗಳ ಕುರಿತು ಚರ್ಚಿಸಿತು.
ಈ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ಸಲಹೆಗಾರರಾದ ಶ್ರೀ ಎಲ್.ಕೆ. ಅತೀಕ್, ಅಪರ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಕಾರ್ಯದರ್ಶಿ ಶ್ರೀ ತುಷಾರ್ ಗಿರಿನಾಥ್, ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ಇಲಾಖೆ ಅಪರ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಕಾರ್ಯದರ್ಶಿ ಶ್ರೀ ರಿತೇಶ್ ಕುಮಾರ್ ಸಿಂಗ್ ಹಾಗೂ ಇತರ ಹಿರಿಯ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳು ಉಪಸ್ಥಿತರಿದ್ದರು.
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) November 2, 2026
Association president R Manjunath and general secretary G M Nandakumar brought to the notice of the CM that approximately Rs 38,000 crore has to be paid to contractors from various departments. This amount should be released urgently and until pending dues are paid, no tenders should be called for new works, and package system should be cancelled, they said.
Also, there are approximately 1.50 lakh contractors in state. From 2021-22 till now, suitable action has not been taken for release of pending money of contractors. Except Public Works Department and Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), there is no transparency in the tender and bill payment process in other departments. They requested CM that problems of contractors who play important role in development works of government should be solved on priority.
The contractor said that tendering for works without grants should be stopped and new development works should be taken up only after paying pending money of already completed works. Pending bills should be released considering department-wise seniority of contractors and giving special LoC should be withheld. Small, medium contractors are facing trouble due to the system of clubbing works and calling tender in form of packages. Association president Manjunath requested that interference of MLAs in the tender process should also be stopped.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said, “We have discussed all their demands and they have said that Rs 38,000 crore is due to them. During the last six months of the B S Yediyurappa government, the contractors have taken up a lot of projects and the bills are due. Now, we are streamlining the system. The pending bills in the Irrigation department are too high and we will have to do something about it. We have agreed to several of their demands”.
