The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Contractors’ Association on Thursday threatened to stop all works if their pending bills are not cleared until June 5.
The association submitted a memorandum about the payments to BBMP commissioner Tushar Girinath in Bengaluru days after Karnataka’s new Congress government on May 26 issued an order for withholding payments related to projects sanctioned when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power.
The memorandum said payments date back to May 2021. “Contractors already in financial distress will be subjected to even more distress… we request you to release the withheld payments immediately…”
R Ambikapathy, the president of the association, said payments have not been made for over 24 months . “We did not receive any payment over the last two months due to elections as well.”
He said Girinath told them that the government has sent a circular directing officials not to make any new payments. “He said there would be a discussion on this and then a decision will be taken.”
Ambikapathy said over 2,000 contractors have been affected and their debts have been mounting. He added Girinath has assured them the issue will be taken up.