K’taka govt floating tenders at inflated rates to fund coming polls: KPCC chief

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 15 (ANI): Karnataka Congress has accused the chief minister Basavraj Bommai government of hastily preparing tenders and doubling the amounts of tenders floated in order to fund the upcoming elections and stated that the Congress is determined to uproot the corrupt state government.
"The BJP government is hastily preparing tenders in all departments including public works, rural development, minor irrigation and energy. If there is a tender with an actual worth of Rs 500 crore, the same is being pushed as Rs.1000 crore. We are ready to prove the same by providing any documentation in this regard," state Pradesh Congress Committee Chief DK Shivakumar said.
"By indulging in corruption like this, they have made the state the corruption capital of the country. We will fight against the corruption of this government. We are warning the government, contractors and officials in this case. We are going to cancel the illegal tenders that have been awarded in the last 6 months after our government comes to power. We will investigate all tenders and will tear down this pit of corruption," he added.
He also said that the Bommai-led BJP government in the state will be in power for one more month as the model code of conduct will be in place in the state as soon as the budget session gets over.
"Siddaramaiah and I have been touring the state and the term of this government is only one month. The Election Code will come into effect between March 7 and 10 after the closure of budget session," said Shivakumar.
Speaking about the corrupt practices being carried out in awarding the tenders he said, "It also has been observed that only some of the tenders are being passed through the cabinet before the same is awarded, while the rest are being fast tracked and are being awarded without any decision of the cabinet, that too within a short period of only seven days." he alleged.
"MLAs have been entrusted with the responsibility of identifying the contractors and awarding tenders. These MLAs are inviting the contractors on the streets and telling them that they should pay a specified sum before the elections to get these tender," said shivakumar and added that BJP MLA Goolihatti Shekhar has also complained about this issue.
He alleged that payment worth thousands of crores to the contractors is pending with the state government but the payments are being released only to those who give commissions to the ministers and government.
"New tenders are not being given to qualified contractors in a transparent manner. For example, tenders have been called for the construction of Shivaram Karanth layout without even acquiring the land. The Government is also collecting money from contractors by releasing money in advance. We have all the documents regarding this," he said. (ANI)