Karnataka contractors calls for statewide strike over pending bills of Rs 37,000 crore

BENGALURU: The Karnataka State Contractors Association (KSCA) has called for massive protests against the state government at Freedom Park on February 12 (Thursday) over pending bills.

“If any problems of the contractors of the state are to be resolved, an ‘official meeting’ of the Chief Minister will be inevitable. To open the government’s eyes, struggle is the only way. We have organised a massive strike at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Thursday”, the KSCA announced.

The KSCA said that the government has arrears of about “Rs. 37,000.00 crores from various departments” for the past four years, adding that the association’s meetings with the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and with the Government Secretary of the department have been of no avail.

“The Karnataka Government has arrears of about Rs 37,000.00 crore from various departments for the four-year period of 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26. The Karnataka State Contractors Association has met the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Ministers and the Government Secretary of the department several times and discussed the matter, but to no avail”, the KSCA said.

“For about 2 years (two and a half years), the Chief Minister, along with the office bearers of the Karnataka State Contractors Association, Ministers and Government Secretaries, has not held an official meeting. They have scheduled 2-3 meetings and postponed them indefinitely without giving any specific reasons,” the association added.

It added that their efforts to bring the cognisance of the PWD minister and the Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar were in vain. “We have written to the Public Works Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister several times regarding the problems of the contractors and have been promising to call a meeting. And only a few ministers have responded to our letter, held a meeting and discussed the problems. But to no avail,” the KSCA said.

It further reflected on its previous efforts to present its demands to the government to ensure the clearance of all outstanding contractor bills, the maintenance of seniority, and the release of funds in a single instalment on a priority basis, which also yielded no positive outcome.

“The office bearers of the State Contractors Association held a press conference on 29.01.2026 and demanded that the outstanding bills of the contractors be released immediately, seniority be maintained, and the money be released in one instalment on priority. Otherwise, it was announced that the ongoing works across the state would be stopped. This news was published by all the dailies and news media on 30.01.2026. Further, a letter was written to the Chief Minister, Ministers, and Chief Secretaries of the Government in this regard, requesting them to make provision for the release of money in the budget for the year 2026-27. All efforts will be in vain,” it stated.

The association appealed to “contractors from all districts of the state of Karnataka to stop their work and participate in the strike in large numbers” to ensure the protest’s success. It further noted that the state president and office bearers are “personally visiting all the districts of the state to conduct preliminary meetings and make the strike a success, and to reassure the aggrieved contractors.”

“We have arranged a tour of our respective districts on the following dates. We request the presidents, secretaries and office bearers of all the taluk associations to participate during the tour and provide appropriate advice and instructions to make the strike a success”, the constractors’ association said. (ANI)