BBMP holds up payments of over Rs 1,000 crore to contractors after govt stops fund release

BENGALURU: With Chief Minister Siddaramaiah ordering that no further funds should be released to any department towards works initiated by the previous BJP government, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has up payments of abour Rs 1,000 crore. This has pushed the contractors who carried out the work into dire circumstances.

While the Congress has been talking about development, all works initiated by the previous government have been stopped and payments due to contractors have also been put on hold. Palike chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said the civic body stopped making payments from May 6 itself, days ahead of the election.

BBMP chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said settlement of bills has been stopped since May 6.

“Even before the government issued the order, we had not billed any work and stopped payments from May 6. Even bills for maintenance works have been put on hold. Bills totalling Rs 350 crore for May-June have been cleared, but payments have not been made. Funds of Rs 675 crore were released in the first week of May under the Nagarothana scheme, but even those payments have not been made”, he said