State contractors allege graft in awarding govt contracts

NT Correspondent

Karnataka Contractors Association president D Kempanna has alleged that the corruption in the state has skyrocketed since 2017. “While earlier they had to give 5 per cent commission, since 2017 they are giving 40 per cent commission for each project of the government”, he said. Speaking to the media here on Thursday, he urged for an investigation into this corruption in contract works by a team led by a retired judge.

Kempanna said they are writing to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in this re gard, if he doesn’t respond then they will protest in the third or fourth week of March. He said that they had written to former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa four times and even wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Kempanna said that there are more than 50,000 contractors in the state, including 17,000 class 1 contractors, among them 296 are from other states. “Tenders are being given to those from other states, who produce fake bills. We have to bribe elected representatives or we will not get a tender,” he said.