Contractor: Allow me to kill myself

NT Correspondent

Hubballi / New Delhi / Bengaluru: Just a few months after a contractor, Santosh Patil killed himself alleging that he was being harassed to 'pay up' hefty commission for government projects while targeting former RDPR Minister KS Eshwarappa, a Hubballi-based contractor has written to President Draupadi Murmu, requesting permission for euthanasia as he could no longer endure the harassment by officials and the non-payment of bills amounting to more than Rs 1 crore.

Basavaraj Amaragol sent the same letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Governor Thawarch - and Gehlot. He claimed that he had supplied Covid - related equipment worth Rs85 lakh to Kadur Gram Panchayat on January 2 and 3, 2021.

He added that he had supplied the Mudigere Gram Panchyat utilities amounting to Rs27 lakh on January 15, 16, 28, 29 and 30. The cumulative amount comes to be about Rs1.12 crore. Both taluks come under Chikkamagaluru district. The contractor alleged that officers in the respective panchayats have been demanding 30 to 40 percent commission as a pre-condition to release the dues owed to him.

Even after meeting CM Bommai twice and despite him ordering that the dues be released, the officials haven’t done the needful, he said. The Prime Minister’s Office had issued similar directions but they also fell on deaf ears, he added.

 “I supplied the equipment more than two years ago. I had acquired the money to buy the utilities with loans from friends and lenders. I am in dire straits now because I have run out of money and I must repay my debts. However, the taluk panchayat officers are not clearing my bills and they are not releasing the money that they owe me. Kadur taluk executive officer Devraj Nayak has been demanding commission of over 40 per cent. He has also threatened me, even claiming that he has the support of Kadur MLA Belli Prakash,” Amaragol alleged.

“I also wrote to the principal secretary of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) department. The principal secretary directed the taluk panchayat officials to clear the bills, but they have not responded,” he added. Amaragol said that he was being harassed by vendors from whom he had bought the equipment with demands of high rates of interest on goods bought