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Friday, March 29 2024
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Mysuru

Most contractors who did Dasara works last 2 years still not paid

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Mysuru: Due to delay in payments by the government, the contractors who took up various works during Dasara celebration are put into a lot of hardship. Not only last year’s but also majority of the bills of 2016 are also pending. Due to the delay in payment, most of the contractors have not only lost their profits but are incurring huge losses.

Last year, for Dasara festival, though the High Power Committee had sanctioned Rs 15 Crore, later the government decided to approve only Rs 9 Crore. But even after nearly a year, the government has released just Rs 4 Crore and Rs 5 Crore more are pending, the reason for the delay, best known to the authorities. Even though the deputy commissioner brought it to the notice of the government including Kannada and Culture Department, no initiative has been taken. Hundreds of contractors with an aim to get some profit, had borrowed money from private money lenders and invested but the delay in getting money for their work will not take away the profits but also their losses will increase as they need to pay interest for their loans. If the payment is delayed further, the district administration may face problems during the forthcoming Dasara celebration. It is also alleged that if the contractors questioned the officials, the latter even threatened them with blacklisting.

For the smooth conduct of Dasara celebration, the district administration had formed 16 different subcommittees which include welcome and invitation, sports, procession/torchlight parade, farmers Dasara, Cultural Dasara, illumination, Yuva Dasara, Food Mela and Wrestling Subcommittee. Each subcommittee, with the help of different contractors, took up various works during Dasara celebration but unfortunately, most of the contractors did not get the money which they had spent. To avoid delay in releasing the money, former deputy commissioner D Randeep had even written a letter to the government requesting it to allocate the money for annual Dasara celebration in the budget itself so that there would be no further delay. As of now, the funds for Dasara are being released by the Kannada and Culture Department.

When sought the reason for the delay in paying bills, Deputy Commissioner Abhiram Sankar told Newskarnataka, “The reason we can’t tell but anyways, the money will be released. The government will be having many commitments. Money will be paid. It is only a question of time. During the meeting with chief minister, we have brought this to his notice and he assured to settle all the pending bills. Already these issues have been told to Higher Education Minister G T Devegowda and Tourism Minister S R Mahesh. To streamline the system and to prevent such delays, action will be proposed to the chief minister.”

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