The Association of Contractors of the State of Karnataka has written on Wednesday to the main minister Siddaramaiah, claiming that, contrary to the guarantees, the seniority was not followed while cleaning the invoices pending water resources, public works and minor departments of irrigation and “invisible forces” that were working to create a special letter of credit (LOC) to great contractors to increase the tail.
The Association has also separated the interested ministers: DK Shivakumar, SáSh Jarkiholi and NS Boseraju, respectively, marking thesis groups.
Paper of intermediaries
R. Manjunath, president of the association, said the contractors had been suffering for more than three years without payments and that the situation was only being exacerbated by the “intermediaries” who worked for great contractors to obtain their jumped invoices.
He appealed to Prime Minister Siddaramaiah to solve the problem soon.
Talking to Presspersons, he only said that if the problem was not resolved, the association would begin to “take names and speak openly.”
‘Son doing deals’
Mr. Manjunath also claimed that the son of the minor irrigation minister was “to make deals.” Mr. Boseraju, however, denied the accusations, saying that if it was proved to have acted, he would resign.
In response to the accusations, Mr. Shivakumar asked the contractors to file a complaint with the Lokayukta and the Government. “Our government does not encourage corruption,” he said.
In the letter written to Mr. Jarkiholi, the association said that in its ministry, the bills were being cleared according to the antiquity and holiness of the process was maintained until recently, but in the last three months this had changed.
Jumping the tail
“Just after a decision to clear the bills according to antiquity, the tasks at the meeting, the bills are clear jumping the tail,” said the letter, and claimed that “invisible forces” were spoiling the system in the department during the last three months. The association had asked him to immediately convene a meeting of the contractors and provide documents on the criteria that are followed to clean the bills.
Mr. Jarkiholi, who spoke with the media in Thorsday, responded to the accusations of the contractors, saying that the bills were being clear transparently.
He said that it was true that some contractors were given a special locomotive who requested the same in genuine cases and that there were no “invisible forces at play” behind this.
Published – April 10, 2025 09:41 PM IST