Probably for the first time, the civil contractors in the state resorted to protesting directly at the state secretariat, alleging that the Congress government, which claims to be a people’s government, is charging them 20% commission and demanding payment of pending bills.
They were furious that where would they get that amount to clear their pending bills? They questioned how reasonable it was to demand that they be given 20% commission for the development work they had undertaken by taking loans and were struggling to pay the interest on it.
They questioned whether big contractors have money to pay bills, but they do not have any to pay? About 200 small civil contractors from 33 districts across the state staged a dharna in front of Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka Chamber at the secretariat on Friday.
Bhatti turned his face at the contractors who came to the Secretariat to submit a petition on pending bills. He did not even want to listen to their petition. When the SPF staff stopped the contractors, they all protested in front of the Bhatti Chamber.
They demanded that the pending bills be paid as promised by Revanth Reddy before the elections. It is noteworthy that Bhatti Vikramarka had earlier stated that government employees do not have to go around for their dues, and that after the people’s government came to power, they paid the dues of Rs. 10,000 crores related to government employees.
Speaking at the JAC meeting of government employees at the Secretariat, he said that some dues have been deposited in the last 14 months. He said that his government has cleared old and new pending bills worth Rs. 10,000 crores. He said that another Rs. 8,000 crores are left.
He promised to clear the pending bills of government employees ranging from Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 600 crore every month on priority basis from next April. However, when ministers are met for pending bills, they are told not to talk about that one thing, said Darshanala Shankaraiah, president of the Civil Contractors Welfare Association.